Kalkara ‘mooring bays’ include berths for 161 large boats

Berths for 331 boats will occupy the Kalkara bay in a request by the Infrastructure Ministry for mooring bays, presented in 2019.

The latest plans envisage 161 berths for large 8-10m long boats, 90 for under-6m boats, and 80 berths for mid-sized boats (6-8m).

The berths will practically occupy the entire inlet along Triq il-Mandraġġ, Triq Marina and Triq ix-Xatt. Berths for smaller boats will be located closer to the inlet facing the Kalkara Square, while those for larger ones will be located along Triq il-Mandraġġ opposite the existing marina.

Previous plans last year foresaw 305 berthing spaces for boats ranging between 4.5-9m, over a total 35,000sq.m area.

The present yacht marina already covers an area of 21,000sq,m in front of a boatyard in the vicinity of Bighi.

Last year the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage expressed concern about the intensity and formal layout of the proposed mooring bays, calling for a more organic layout to minimise the impact on views within this area of high scenic value.

In October 2019, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg insisted that the application was limited to a reorganization of existing berths, assuring Kalkara residents that the Kalkara marina “will not be growing by even one centimetre”.

In its project statement, Transport Malta said the project would create “a uniform mooring arrangement” that maximises the inlet’s capacity, instead of the current random and haphazard arrangement of moored boats.

But TM also acknowledged that the project will allow for the increase in the number of large boats berthed in the inlet, resulting in the “increase the overall number of boats moored in the area.”

One of the expected impacts will be the disturbance of 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 project statement suggested that capping the number of large vessels mooring in the inlet could mitigate the adverse visual impact, as well as installing their mooring buoys in areas exerting the least visual impact in the inlet.