At a conference where prospective plans regarding the concept of erosion in our country were discussed, Minister Clayton Bartolo, Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi and Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana launched the Coastal-COVER project, a strategic project to be run jointly by the Public Works department within the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects and the Malta Tourism Authority within the Ministry for Tourism and Consumer Protection. The project is expected to address an effective strategy on the protection of the coast of our country.
The Public Works Department has embarked upon a more strategic approach to the national problem. It started by looking at localised issues in a more holistic fashion and approaching problems through a more scientific approach to risk assessment. After a couple of years of research, preliminary evaluation of the risks at hand, and planning of a strategic vision and general framework, the Department prepared a proposal for the formulation of a Coastal Protection Strategy for the Maltese Islands.
Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo said, “We will also see harmonization across various Ministries within Government so that we can implement coastal protection solutions for the Maltese Islands, by establishing a consistent and holistic strategic framework at the national level. This shall be another step in having a Coastal Protection Strategy for the Maltese islands that continues to elevate Malta’s tourism product in the realties of tomorrow.”
Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi said that through this project we will pave the way for the establishment of a strategy aimed at ensuring practices that are economically and environmentally sustainable to ensure the coastal protection management, taking into account all the challenges related to climate change.
Parliamentary Secretary Zrinzo Azzopardi stressed that through collaboration with other national entities, and with a total investment of €600,000 co-financed by European funds, this project will ensure that our coast is safeguarded so that today we can enjoy it better and more responsibly, and to increase the likelihood of our future generations doing the same. Along with other projects, the government is investing in ensuring a better quality of life for its citizens by guaranteeing a high standard of living in every aspect.
Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana stressed about the importance of this project whose ultimate goal is to protect the coast of our country. “The project is about protecting the coast and the idea behind is to first understand the problems and risks by looking at Coastal and Climate Overall Vulnerability and Exposure Risks – which is why we named it Coastal-COVER – and then to develop a protection strategy to safeguard our wellbeing against these risks. Coastal erosion creates problems of risk to public safety, due to rock falls in some of the most frequently visited and popular coastal areas. This has been addressed for several decades by the Public Works Department. To this end, we feel that this is a national priority and we have seen to it that we involve the best experts in this field in order to develop a strategy that effectively addresses these problems”, said Permanent Secretary Joseph Caruana.