Gzira gardens will get restaurant in Transport Malta plan for yacht marina

Plans for the Council of Europe Garden in Gżira, submitted by Transport Malta have now added a restaurant to the “operator area” for the yacht marina.

The 493sq.m patch will include an office and storage space, a restaurant, a retail shop and public toilet facilities in the area next to the Enemalta substation. A public roof garden was also proposed on top of the proposed commercial development.

13 trees, including two pine trees impacted by the development, will be “transplanted” to other parts of the garden.

A 25-year concession was awarded by public tender to the Gzira Gardens Marina Consortium in 2018, a project which had attracted 14 bids. But the application for an additional two pontoons presented in 2019 and and that of an “operator area” have both been presented by Transport Malta, and not by the concessionaires.

A general masterplan is mooted in the project statement for the two new pontoons, which refers to “a holistic redesign” of the area, the current access-only road and the public garden.

According to a project development statement for the two new pontoons, the project will take place in four phases, the first being the construction of a pontoon approved back in 2011; the second for the two new pontoons; the third will be the “formalisation and rationalisation of on-street car parking”, aimed at minimising the footprint taken up by parked cars so that the entire stretch of road is turned into a “a pedestrian-priority, low-speed area” with a paved finish continuous to the pedestrian and bicycle-friendly promenade, connecting the Gzira promenade to Ta’ Xbiex.

The fourth phase will consist in the upgrading of the garden “to ensure the relevance of the public space by providing an access-for-all, safe, green park, maximising the vegetation and redesigning the park around the existing mature trees.”

Another part of the garden is expected to be taken up by the relocation of an existing fuel station next to Manoel Island bridge, which will be shifted to the edge of the garden.