Plan to rebuild Gozo aqueduct hits a snag

The Gozo Ministry’s plans to reconstruct a 19th century aqueduct have left the national heritage watchdog baffled.

“The surviving monument has architectural, historic and aesthetic value as a historical ruin and no clear justification has been received for the proposed extension and the building of new tracts,” the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage said in its reaction to the application.

Plans foresee the dismantling and reconstruction of the surviving tracts of the aqueduct, as well as the construction of the lost tracts. Plans also foresee the construction of a walkway, the paving of an existing access road and the reconstruction of water culverts.  

But the application was suspended following negative feedback from the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and the Environment and Resources Authority.

According to the superintendence, no clear justifications, including scientific and structural studies, have been submitted for what it has described as “a drastic and impactful intervention”.

In the absence of an “overriding reason” as to why “the aesthetic value supersedes the other values”, the intervention “should focus on the consolidation of the existing parts of the monument”.

The Environment and Resources Authority, while agreeing with the restoration of the historical landmark, expressed concern that the proposal will result in the  formalisation of the site, due to the introduction of gravel surfacing, the formalisation of the rural access way and the introduction of light in the countryside through the proposed decorative uplighters on the aqueduct.

The aqueduct, known as ‘tal-Ħammimiet’, suffered extensive damages after whole stretches of it collapsed, with the last collapse coming as a result of storms in the 1980s.

Work on the aqueduct’s construction, spreading over two kilometres, began in 1840. It was designed by the British to carry potable water from Għolja ta’ Għar, limits of Santa Luċija to Rabat where a fountain was inaugurated in 1843.