CarlBro International Consultants, a Danish company specialising in environmental consultancy, has been commissioned by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and Wasteserv to prepare a report earmarking possible sites for land reclamation and suggesting the best methods to be used. The report should be ready by the end of the year.

Sources told TMID that CarlBro representatives will be in Malta during November to identify potential coastal sites and view the land reclamation sites developed so far such as Freeport and Cirkewwa.

They will also hold talks with people from Mepa and Wasteserv regarding measures for environmental development, conflicts between fisheries and aquaculture as well as future demands for marine uses.

The project has been co-funded under Taiex – a short-term EU technical assistance programme.

Contacted by TMID, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino

confirmed the information. He said that providing quarries for construction waste disposal was the first step in tackling the treatment of this kind of waste but it was not a long-term solution and the government was therefore exploring the possibility of land reclamation.

Sites suitable for land reclamation are not as available as one might think, Mr Pullicino said. There are vast seaside areas with particular marine life such as colonies of posedonia plant that cannot be tampered with. All the possibilities are being explored at the moment, but it is expected that Malta will follow in the footsteps of other countries that have implemented land reclamation projects and create islands instead of extending the shoreline.