App to guide countryside walks still in the pipeline

In its electoral manifesto the Labour Party had pledged the creation of a ‘mobile phone app’ to guide ramblers walking along public countryside trails.

The app would be based on a map, which clearly identifies public paths, thus reducing conflicts with landowners and enabling ramblers to verify bogus ownership claims by squatters blocking public access.

The proposal was framed within a manifesto commitment to create a network of nature trails.

Two years since the election major progress has been made on the creation of a national heritage trail along the Victoria lines. But the pledge to create a nation-wide mobile app clearly showing which passages are public property is still in an embryonic stage.

A spokesperson for Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, the minister responsible for public land and the implementation of the electoral manifesto told MaltaToday “discussions are ongoing to launch a pilot project on the subject”. 

A similar answer was also recently given in a reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg asking the government whether it has any plans to ‘register’ public passages in the countryside.

MaltaToday is informed that the app will depend on information which is presently only available to the Lands Authority. For the project to succeed it must become a priority for the authority, a source privy to discussions on this matter told this newspaper.

The demand for a definitive map outlining public trails in the countryside was originally made by the Ramblers Association whose president Ingram Bondin, believes would represent “a big step forward”.

He recalled that public awareness on this issue increased during the COVID pandemic when more people ventured into the countryside, only to suffer from the same plight experienced by veteran ramblers; that of finding their path blocked by owners without even being able to verify their claims.

“While we believe that the public should also have transit rights on certain private lands, the very least we expect is for the government to clearly indicate public passages,” Bondin told MaltaToday.

He believes a single entity should be responsible for the management of countryside trails and thus be able to coordinate between various government entities like Ambjent Malta, Project Green and the Lands Authority.

But Bondin also referred to the significant progress being made in the creation of a national trail along the Victoria lines. He commended the work by the Environment Ministry and  Ambjent Malta, in making the trail more accessible by clearing overgrown vegetation. He also noted that work has been completed on two sections of the trail, namely the Dwejra section and the part linking Gharghur and Mosta. For Bondin, creating more nature trails and investing in their long-term maintenance is vital to ensure that people can actually, walk on public pathways.  “You cannot have the app without the trails,” he added.