As the St Aloysius Sports Complex project is approaching the end later this year, a short but significant ceremony was held this morning at the Park tal-Majjistral organized jointly by St Aloysius College and the Vassallo Group in which several indigenous trees were planted.
The two entities committed themselves to this green initiative from the outset of the project after shifting some Ficus trees to make way for new sports facilities within the sports complex.
During a ceremony held on Monday, representatives from the two entities planted different types of trees namely 20 olive trees, 25 tamarisk, 10 tal-għargħar, 5 carob trees, 5 Oak Trees, 10 Almond Trees, 5 Judas Trees, 3 Nefel, 2 Deru, 5 Riħan, 2 fula tal-klieb, 2 fejġel, 6 alaternu u 10 tal-ħarir, 5 salvja selvaġġ.
Short speeches were delivered by St Aloysius College Rector, Fr Jimmy Bartolo sj, Vassallo Group CEO Pio Vassallo and Park tal-Majjistral Site Manager, Darren Saliba. Fr Bartolo spoke about the various environmental initiatives the college takes during the year, particularly through its involvement in EcoSkola.
"On occasions like this one, we are reminded of our commitment to take good care of our 'common house'. The church joins millions of people around the world who wish to take care of our natural environment," Fr Jimmy Bartolo added. He also explained that since the year 2000, the school has grown and planted over 20,000 trees in various localities in Malta. He thanked Mr. David Azzopardi who worked on keeping this tree nursery alive and active throughout all these years. "This is yet another step which confirms the Jesuit commitment to safeguard the environment," he said.
The Jesuits, in collaboration with many friends and collaborators, managed to halt the building of a shooting range next to Mount St. Joseph retreat house in Mosta. "We have also, together with the Front Kontra l-Golf Course successfully halted the development of a Golf Course in Rabat which threatened the livelihood of over 90 farmers in the area," he added.
Pio Vassallo announced that the Mediterranean College of Sport to be set up within the St Aloysius College will not only include new trees and shrubs to be planted in different parts of the Complex but will also benefit from other environmental measures that will help generate clean energy and make use of rainwater among other measures.
Established in 2008 the National Park extends along the coast from ir-Ramla tal-Mixquqa (Golden Bay) to Il-Prajjet (Anchor Bay) l/o Mellieħa. The Park is managed by a federation of non-governmental organisations carrying out the regeneration of the habitat to revive areas abandoned over the years. To date, the federation has planted thousands of trees in different zones of the park and has removed tons of illegally dumped waste.
During today's ceremony trees were planted by St Aloysius Primary School students as well as Secondary School students who participate in the Eko Skola initiative, teachers as well as the Vassallo Group team involved in the MCS project.