Malta’s environmental projects agency Project Green will begin works on around 1.3 million square metres of open space split across 22 projects next year, the agency CEO Joseph Cuschieri said on Wednesday.
Cuschieri, together with Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, gave a rundown of the work that Project Green has done this year and has planned for next year during a press briefing in Mriehel, whilst also answering media questions about the major projects slated for San Gwann and Floriana.
In her introduction in the briefing, Minister Miriam Dalli said that Project Green is handling 118 projects – 19 of which will be ready by next year.
She said that one of people’s major concerns at the moment is the lack of open space, explaining that for her open space is “primarily a green space” adding that “that’s what interests us most, more than a formal project for a garden that included concrete in it like you used to see in the past.”
“We’re looking at natural projects where children can go and play with a football and nobody stops them, where you can go on a picnic without extra formalities,” she said.
The agency’s portfolio currently spans 118 projects which together cover a 1.8 million square metres in land and which will require a cumulative investment of €350 million.
Project Green CEO Joseph Cuschieri explained that throughout the past year the agency had upsized its resources so that it can handle the volume of projects that there are planned. The agency, for example, has 12 architects employed together with a number of other technical persons involved in the day-to-day tasks at hand.
So far, Project Green has completed works on 18 open spaces and in 10 valleys for a total of 56,000 square metres, Cuschieri said, before detailing that the agency currently has projects in 9 open spaces and 11 valleys ongoing.
These ongoing projects cover 115,000 square metres and carry a cost of €8.5 million. They include works at Santa Lucia’s Serenity Garden and Kalkara’s Villa Portelli, together with other projects such as at the Peace Lab in Hal-Far.
Cuschieri said that Project Green plans to publish tenders for a total of 22 more open spaces by the end of 2024. These tenders cover 198,000 square metres and will be worth around €38 million.
19 projects covering 120,000 square meters and worth around €20 million meanwhile are slated for completion in 2025. These include the four sites announced by the Prime Minister earlier this year as having been transferred from the Lands Authority to Project Green to be turned into urban spaces.
Work will ramp up throughout 2025, with 22 more projects spanning around 1.3 million square metres and worth €115 million starting in that year.
These projects include the ex-AUM car park in Bormla, San Anton Gardens – where works will happen on paths, walls, the conservatory, and bird cage, the Nwadar National Park in Marsascala, the Pinetum in Floriana, and the project in San Gwann’s town centre.
Asked about the San Gwann project, Dalli confirmed that plans had changed and the originally planned excavation will be avoided. There are several reasons for this, she said, and chief amongst them is the environmental consideration to reduce construction waste and to reduce frustration of those living close by.
The first phase of the project – an underground car park with a garden above it situated next to the San Gwann parish church – is currently under consideration by the Planning Authority, while traffic studies to see how traffic can be re-routed without creating bottlenecks elsewhere are also ongoing.
Architect Beverly Costa said that the plans will be taking on a very different idea to what was previously proposed, but will still maintain the element of reducing car centricity. She conceded that it is ambitious, but said that the space will also promote different mobility and access will remain open to public transport.
The first phase of the project is expected to begin in 2025, although exactly when depends on how long the Planning Authority process will take, and will take between two and three years. The second phase will begin almost simultaneously with the first.
Dalli estimated that the project will be at a “very advanced” stage by the next general election, which – pending any early election – is slated for March 2027.
“We have to be ambitious because otherwise we will remain in a situation where our village squares are filled with cars. If this is done and done well – which is why we are taking time on planning how to do it without inconvenience – then I’m convinced that it can be a project which other localities look at,” she said.
Asked by this newsroom about plans for Triq Sant’ Anna in Floriana, which was one of the Labour Party’s main general election pledges when it came to environmental projects, it was confirmed that the idea of a tunnel under the thoroughfare has now been scrapped due to archaeological findings.
Cuschieri said that the plan is still to pedestrianise the area, but conceded that it is a challenge. Traffic studies are ongoing, and he said that ideas of initial partial pedestrianisation before fully closing off the road are also under consideration.
Dalli said that it’s important that the project is done without creating new traffic bottlenecks, as that in itself will have an adverse environmental impact due to an increase in emissions.
Speaking about how Project Green is working administratively, Cuschieri said that the agency’s biggest challenge is to meet the public’s expectations and to implement these projects as quickly as possible.
He said that the agency is in talks with the Planning Authority to see how the planning process can be simplified, and it is also looking into how it can utilise framework agreements with contractors which establish the rates from beforehand so that the procurement process can be simplified as well.
This framework agreement will be published in January 2025, he said.
He also praised the young team that has come together under Project Green, saying that it is heartening to see that they truly believe in what the agency is striving to achieve and the work it is doing.
Finally, Dalli said that the government’s priority is to push people towards these parks, and part of that is by organising multiple events throughout the year and to encourage NGOs to organise events of their own.