Ghadira carpark to be upgraded

Projects Malta is proposing an upgrade of the existing car park on the northern side of Ghadira Bay to increase parking spaces and improve accessibility and safety.

The new car park will provide 324 car parking spaces, 5 motorcycle spaces and 11 camper spaces.  

The present carpark which is only partially asphalted and includes areas covered by soil or gravel provides for 277 car parking spaces and 27 camper spaces.

The works will include the removal of any debris and deposited waste and unstable ground along the northern part of the site. Furthermore, an area of 7,623 sq.m will be scarified to the required levels and resurfaced. It also foresees the construction of retaining and boundary walls and drainage systems.

The development will extend over an area on the northwestern part of the site where sanitary facilities are located, which is presently in a degraded natural state.

But according to the Environment and Resources Authority this  piece of land  is already detached from the natural environment, and does not include any protected species.

The Authority has called on Projects Malta to present  a landscaping plan to screen the development and for details on the design of the proposed boundary walls at the seaward side of the site.

ERA also expressed concern that the asphalting of the site could  aggravate water runoff which could end up polluting the beach.

To counter this impact the authority is calling for mitigation measures like porous pavements and the use of vegetation.

Last year Projects Malta had proposed widening the Għadira beach by 30 metres but the project is currently suspended. Nationalist MP and former Mellieħa mayor Robert Cutajar had  called on the government to improve the parking and public transport situation before embarking on the beach widening project as this was bound increase in the number of bathers arriving either by car or by public transport.