Graffitti sceptical of ministry plans for Blue Lagoon walkway

The Gozo Ministry wants a 71m-long walkway with safety railings linking the two beaches in the Blue Lagoon area, citing the need to keep the beach “safer to all demographics.”

Moviment Graffitti, whose campaign to reclaim the Comino coastline captured nationwide attention, has expressed its scepticism of any infrastructural interventions on the protected nature reserve, before a long-promised holistic plan to protect the island is implemented.

The application comes at a time of increased scrutiny on Comino, following the Graffitti protest against abusive sunbed operators and highlighting the need to control the number of tourists and boats on the island as recommended in the management plan for the Natura 2000 site approved six years ago.

The ministry’s PA application, filed by architect William Lewis, foresees a walkway linking the Blue Lagoon with another beach near the existing stairs, which will also be repaired. The project will include a 59m railing along the path, while the timber walkway will be removable and set on adjustable legs to minimise impact on the natural terrain.

A ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday the walkway will provide a direct connection between the formal pathway leading to the Blue Lagoon and the beach area directly adjacent to it. “Presently, the latter is not safely accessible to beachgoers due to the aggressive terrain,” the spokesperson said, adding that the walkway would not impinge on the natural environment while making access to the bay “safer for all demographics.”

The intervention was already endorsed by the Environment and Resources Authority through a nature permit issued in 2019. But a full planning application has been presented to ensure “wider consultation with the public” on the matter, the ministry spokesperson said.

The temporary walkway will be constructed using iroko wood decking and wooden railing to ensure optimum safety, similar to a walkway installed in Ramla il-Hamra, Gozo and other bays in Gozo and Malta.

Graffitti insists on need for a holistic plan

Comino still lacks a holistic plan to control the number of visitors and boats as proposed in the management plan for the Natura 2000 site.

One major contributor to the deterioration of the area is the deposition of tonnes of waste, including hundreds of ‘cocktail’ pineapples dumped everyday in the area around the beach.

In the absence of a holistic plan to address this problem, Moviment Graffitti has expressed scepticism on the latest infrastructural project. “What we have seen along the years is a series of piecemeal and environmentally harmful interventions intended to accommodate business activity such as trenching works passing utilities for kiosks,” Graffitti said.

It said such infrastructural interventions, which included trenching works for the passing of utilities, have simply led to the mushrooming of commercial activities that suffocate the Blue Lagoon. “In this case, it seems that the platform will connect the main Blue Lagoon beach to another small beach that is completely taken over by deckchair operators.”The NGO pointed out that after the direct action undertaken last month, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo ordered the removal of deckchairs only from the small sandy beach. But all of the surrounding area, including this adjacent beach that will be connected via this platform, remains “a de facto private lido controlled by deckchair operators.”

Graffitti warned that in practice, “the platform will continue accommodating the deckchair operators by facilitating access to an area controlled by them.”

Graffitti remains indignant that Bartolo has twice refused to reply to a Parliamentary Question about the composition and work of the committee that should be developing the Comino holistic plan. “The committee was used as an excuse by the minister to justify his inaction by stating that he is still awaiting the committee’s assessment. In fact, it may well be that this committee does not exist at all since ministrer Miriam Dalli’s reply to the same Parliamentary Question indicated that this committee is yet to be constituted”.

Graffitti reminded the government that the Comino Management Plan in place since 2016, specifically refers to the need to establis of a carrying capacity for the island, has been in place since 2016, “No action was taken to implement it. Instead, government allowed and facilitated the taking over of Comino by commercial interests such as deckchairs operations, tourist catamarans and seven massive kiosks.”