Old photos of the waterfront at the Sliema Ferries show a narrower stretch of land leading from the Tigne area towards Manoel Island.

This is because the road that exists today – as well as the promenade – is literally built on the sea.

So when a government comes up with the idea of an underground car park in the area, doubts start to creep in as to whether the project is feasible.

The idea was first floated under a Nationalist government in 2012. It was initially discarded by the new Labour administration, until it was picked up again in 2018, set aside again, and now brought back to life by the Transport Minister, Aaron Farrugia.

To set the record straight – this idea is still in an embryonic stage, and all the government is looking out for is feedback regarding its “potential and viability”. Nothing is set in stone.

Yet it is already clear from a geological and infrastructural point of view that, were such a project to be taken in hand, it would present a series of challenges that other areas, further away from the sea and on higher land, will not pose.

Let’s start with the fact that Sliema needs more and more parking spaces. Trying to find a slot is an almost impossible task, so the idea to have another multi-storey car park in the Sliema area is not to be discarded.

But, then, where should such a car park be located?

And the first answer to this would certainly not be the Ferries, for the reasons mentioned earlier – the area is built on the sea.

While modern technology makes (almost) everything possible – after all, not so long ago the government was thinking about an undersea tunnel leading from Malta to Gozo  - the chances are that another location can be found which would be less challenging and, most of all, less expensive to achieve.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday, geologist Peter Gatt said that “any excavation below the surface is going to be below sea level, so it’s going to be in a situation where you have a continuous flow of water coming in”. Any rock in the area is saturated with water, which makes it even weaker than it would normally be. Water infiltration into any excavated site because of faults and other discontinuities will be a serious problem that will have to be dealt with.

One must also mention that it has happened on many an occasion that a high tide ended up flooding the Ferries promenade and road, and therefore this aspect must be taken into consideration as well, given that sea levels are rising because of global warming.

The question that needs to be asked is whether it will be possible to keep the car park – if it is located at the Ferries – waterproof at all times?

If there are doubts as to whether this is possible, then it would be better to look at other possible locations.