Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), Tuna Artna Lura, NatureTrust Malta and Inhobbu l-Gzira express outrage that the Gzira end of Sliema Creek has turned milky white, due to the volume of dust caused by works on the Gzira waterfront lido being built by a consortium including the Mizzi Organisation (bottlers of Coke) and ST Group (headed by Michael Stivala, General Secretary of the Malta Development Association) which is wreaking untold damage on the sealife there.
This development is located on the site of 36 colonies of protected Mediterranean coral Cladocora Caespitosa. This extremely rare, protected species of coral is included in the Red List of endangered species threatened with extinction by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global authority on the protection of the natural world.
The Environment Resources Authority which is entrusted with the protection of the natural environment had issued a highly questionable Nature Permit for the relocation of the endangered coral to other areas of Marsamxett Harbour. After a trial shifting of three colonies to new sites, ERA had reported to the Planning Authority that the translocated colonies were “declining”.
Since then not only has there has been complete silence as to what happened to the trial and the proposed translocation of the rest of this endangered Mediterranean coral, but works on the very site of the existing coral colonies have continued. The installation of a silt curtain has yet again failed, allowing silt to spread over all the inner part of the creek, choking both the coral and the seagrass that acts as a breeding ground for fish on the seabed.
Yet again we see the Planning Authority proposing eyewash preventive measures that have a track record of failure, merely to allow develpment to go on unchecked.
Yet again, the interests of businesses, namely the Bayview Hotel, the Kennedy Nova Hotel and the Waterfront Hotel, have been put before the interests of residents. Having been deprived of their pavements which have been filled with restaurant tables, the takeover of their seashore by the lido and MIDI is the latest blow to Gzira residents.
The NGOs are concerned that irreversible damage to the coral has been made, while damage beyond the site will continue long-term. It has become habitual that abusive and damaging development works and applications take place during holiday periods in the hope that the public is distracted. The NGOs ask why the Gzira Local Council is not speaking up in the interests of Gzira residents and why ERA and PA have not stopped the works.
The fact this project is directed by Michael Stivala, General Secretary of the Malta Developers’ Association which claims to careed about the environment, is especially ironic. In a country where lawlessness has become rife, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Tuna Artna Lura, NatureTrust Malta and Inhobbu l-Gzira Malta call on the authorities to immediate halt these works until the matter is clarified and protection of the endangered sea life is ensured.
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