Road-widening in Rabat valley set to proceed despite ERA concerns

The widening of a promenade and carriageway in the Tal-Gheriexem valley in Rabat will impact negatively on fertile agricultural land, despite slight changes to the original plans, the Environment and Resources Authority has warned.

The development, which will not even include a cycling lane, is still being recommended for approval by the Planning Authority on the flimsy grounds that it would encourage a shift to other forms of transport.

Infrastructure Malta wants to better accommodate traffic passing through these roads by converting the existing road into a “standard single lane carriageway”, apart from embellishment works that will consist of a belvedere on a piling structure inside the Gheriexem Valley.

But this means that 16 trees, which include the largest fig trees in the Maltese islands, will have to be uprooted.

The undeveloped land to be taken up by the proposal contains a number of important species. The existing retaining wall along Triq Għeriexem hosts a good population of Lepidium graminifolium (Grass-leaved Pepperwort). The works would also overlap with an area rich in water-associated plants, which are a result of the outflow of water from the Għajn Għeriexem freshwater spring, found directly opposite to this area.

Noting that the impact on the valley along the stretch of the road at Tat-Tabija has been “slightly” reduced with the removal of piles and the cantilevered part of the belvedere, ERA has insisted that the “nature of the proposal itself” leave its concerns “unresolved.”

Despite these concerns the PA’s directorate is still recommending approval and a final decision will be taken by the Planning Authority board next week.

The road is located at Triq Tat-Tabija and Triq Għeriexem, along the northern edge of Rabat, overlooking the Gnien Hira valley, an area sheduled as an Area of High Landscape Value.

The latest plans indicate that 1,900sq.m of land will be covered by the cantilevered structure. The road widening will not include a segregated cycling lane, as this would have added a further 1.5m width and result in the loss of 750sq.m of agricultural land and numerous trees.

The NGO Futur Ambjent Wiehed is calling on the PA board to refuse this application describing it as a “road-widening exercise and addition of parking spaces, with the add-on of a promenade”.

The PA’s case officer is recommending approval on the basis of a SPED policy, which encourages a “modal shift through the provision of an integrated transport network and a parking framework.”

But FAW’s Claire Bonello rebutted that the proposal does not encourage a shift from one form of transport to another, but simply promotes greater car use by widening the carriageway and providing more parking spaces at the expense of the ecosystems in the area. “While carriageway for cars was increased, the cycle lane was not introduced with the excuse that it would take up more agricultural land… What was the excuse for widening the carriageway then? What great traffic jams were there?”

Although the PA board is expected to decide on the project next week, no bloc plan indicating the location of parking spaces, street furniture and the extent of development abutting the valley seed has been presented.