The Mepa board today approved an application to dismantle the Marsa Power Station, now that it has finally been switched off.
Actually, there are two power stations at Marsa.
The oldest one is situated in a tunnel underneath the bastions. It is Malta's first ever power station and served the country from 1930 to 1980. Then in 1966, the second power station, the one we see today and which will be dismantled, began to be built.
The works will include the clearing of all equipment, turbine halls, steel and civil structures, fuel shore tanks, acid tanks, bund walls and other structures with the exception of the administration building including offices, distribution workshop and stores together with the security guard room and sea water intake jetty.
The closure of the Marsa Power Station, will not only leave a positive impact on the environment and the air quality of the immediate area surrounding the site, but will also create an area of approximately 66,000 sqm for possible alternative use.
The permitted works will not be affecting any historical parts of the site which include traces of a Byzantine church, late medieval burials tombs, British period structures and the scheduled Grade 2 underground bomb proof power station.
The site has been subdivided into 10 zones to simplify the management of the dismantling and demolition.
1. The administration block will be retained
2. The security and clocking in building will be partially demolished with only a small part of the security area to be retained.
3. The newer part of the turbine hall, including turbines 1 to 4 will be demolished. These turbines were the first to be shut down.
4. So too the second part of the turbine hall with its turbines.
5. The turbine 8 which was the last to be shut down will come next as well as the stores near it.
6. The area around Boiler 7 comes next. This boiler has been given a certain notoriety during the power cuts but actually it was the most hardest worker of all.
7. The last turbine to be shut down is the gas turbine.
8. Next come two tanks, which are very visible from a distance.
9. After which come the rest of the tanks which are now empty.
10. Last to be dismantled are the superstructures on top of Jesuits Hill.
The decommissioning and dismantling will be carried out progressively instead of tackling the entire site at one go. There are rules about decommissioning before the IPPC permit can be surrendered.
At the end, as can be seen from photomontages presented to the board, the area will lose most of the green superstructures, and the entire site can be used for other purposes. There will be on-spot monitoring to avoid any dumping of the material as happens in many other projects.
Towards the end, board member Prof. V Axiaq complained the presentation he heard dealt more about the aesthetic side of things - how the area will look like after demolition rather than about the dangerous presence of asbestos.