305-boat marina proposed at Kalkara promenade

Transport Malta has presented plans for 305 new berthing spaces, despite a clear commitment from transport minister Ian Borg that the Kalkara marina will not be growing by “even one centimetre”.

According to a project development statement, the proposed project will occupy an area of 35,000 square metres for 305 berthing spaces for boats ranging between 4.5m to 9m in width.

In October 2019, MaltaToday had revealed that the Planning Authority’s geoserver was showing an application for an area covering around 35,000sq.m of the creek along Triq Sally Port and Triq ix-Xatt, in Kalkara, but the website gave no public details on what was then a technically ‘incomplete’ application.

News of the potential expansion of the existing 21,000 sq.m marina had angered residents, who took to social media to express their outrage. But Borg then denied that there would be an expansion, by saying that “the Kalkara marina will not be growing by even one centimetre.”

But while the application by Transport Malta does not specifically propose an extension of the present marina, it does propose the introduction of 305 new berthing spaces.

Thirty of the berthing spaces will be reserved for large boats of 8-9m and 10-16m long. Ninety berths will be reserved for smaller boats of up to 4.5m in width and 6m long, while 80 berths will be allocated to boats which are 8m long and 5m wide. Additionally, 104 berths will cater for boats which have a six-metre width and are up to 10m long.

The berths will be divided in two clusters, with 12 and 17 mooring lines respectively, and a total of 500 concrete anchors to support the buoyancy of the berthed.

The PDS acknowledges that the project will increase the number of large boats berthed in the inlet, and may result in the “increase the overall number of boats moored in the area”.

One of the expected impacts of the project is that it will “disturb the views of the Birgu bastions and Kalkara”, which form part of the Area of High Landscape Value of the Harbour Fortifications. This will result in a negative impact on the harbour views from the pedestrian promenade.

The adverse visual impact may be mitigated by “capping the number of large vessels mooring in the inlet, and by installing their mooring buoys in areas, which will exert the least visual impact in the inlet”.

Moreover, the increase in the number and density of boats in the inlet may exacerbate the water quality in the harbour due to additional seepage and leakage of fuels, lubricating oils, and other chemicals used in boating.

The project is being justified as a way of creating a uniform mooring arrangement for boats, which are presently anchored in a random and haphazard manner.

In October, a spokesperson for TM had confirmed that the authority is presently preparing the “groundwork” to “potentially” issue a request for proposal “for an extension to the marina in the area”.