Infrastructure Malta is nearing the completion of the final phase at the southern part of the Shore Supply Project

• 10 Jul, 2023 |

Infrastructure Malta is nearing the completion of the final phase at the southern part of the Shore Supply Project, as testing of shoreside electrical equipment at Boiler Wharf, Senglea, is 95% completed.

With the frequency converter station electrical system in place, the Agency's contractor is now testing all electro-mechanical systems, including cables, transformers, frequency converters, distribution boards and switchgear. Testing of the premises' Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems, backup systems and safety and fire fighting systems are also underway. In the past few days, Infrastructure Malta's contractor finalised testing on the connection vehicles and cranes that will supply shore-to-ship electricity to cruise liners in the Grand Harbour.

This frequency converter station will provide a shore power supply of up to 16 megavolt-amperes to one cruise ship. The facility is energised through a 33-Kilovolt cable network connected to the electrical North Distribution Centre in Marsa.

The frequency converter station resides in an old industrial shed at Boiler Wharf, Senglea. Infrastructure Malta is also nearing completion of the restoration and conservation of this shed as part of Malta's industrial heritage.

On the other hand, ongoing works at the North side of the Port are on a much larger scale. The north side will be able to provide shore power to up to 4 ships simultaneously and distributed on four quays. Two 33-kilovolt cables will energise the project's other frequency converter station equipment at Deep Water Quay in Marsa. Works at Marsa are 90% completed, with the testing and commissioning of equipment scheduled to commence shortly.

The North Harbour and Boiler Wharf Shore Supply Project is an environmental investment to cut 90% of air pollution by cruise liners at the  Grand Harbour. Through this project, the port will be equipped with all necessary electrical infrastructure for cruise liners to switch off their gasoil/heavy fuel oil engines and plug in to shore supply electricity. These facilities will energise the ship's onboard system whilst berthed at the port, improving air quality for 17,000 families living in the Grand Harbour area.

This project will provide electricity for up to 5 cruise ships simultaneously. A 5th berth, Pinto 4/5, will be operational after the completion of infrastructural works to extend the quay. This investment will make Malta one of the first in Europe to adopt this environmental technology on a port-wide scale.

Each quay will have several shore connection boxes to provide plug-in points, where specialised mobile cable cranes will make the final connection to the ships. There will be 13 shore connection points at the north side at Pinto Quays and Deep Water Quay and another 4 connection points at Boiler Wharf. These will provide flexibility to enable the connection to specific ship orientations.

A 2015 European report indicates that one cruise ship berthed at port for eight hours produces an estimated 1.2 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide, the equivalent of 300,000 cars driving from Cirkewwa (Mellieha) to Marsaxlokk. It releases 30 kilograms of particulate matter, the same as 180,000 cars travelling the same distance across Malta.

Throughout this project, Infrastructure Malta will drastically reduce the emissions caused by cruise ships while visiting Malta. By switching off their auxiliary engines, cruise liners emit 93% less nitrogen oxides, 92.6% less particular matter and 99.6% less sulphur dioxide. Upon completion of the first phase, the project will also cut 39.6% of the cruise liners' carbon dioxide emissions, reducing the carbon footprint of shipping activities within the port.

The project is co-financed by the EU's Connecting Europe Facility.

Further investments by Infrastructure Malta for extensive improvements in the Grand Harbour

• 06 Sep, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta is implementing further investments to improve upon commercial activities in the Grand Harbour, particularly to create more facilities for larger vessels.

The agency is carrying out major dredging work in various areas to increase the port’s depth for mooring facilities as well as to remove contaminated material from the seabed. As a result, the inner part of the Grand Harbour will become more accessible to larger cruise liners and cargo ships.

This project, with an investment of €7 million, started near the Deep Water Quay, in Marsa. The depth of the sea in this area is currently seven meters and will be increased to ten meters. Dredging is now ongoing in the inner part of the port, as well as in the area of ​​ Ras Hanzir, in the vicinity of ​​Kordin.

Before the dredging works began in the port, several surveys were carried out to identify what lies on and underneath the seabed, geotechnical studies were also carried out and samples of the material in the area were also examined before it is lifted from the seabed. The contaminated material is being exported by sea to Portugal to be treated in a hazardous waste management facility. The dredging in the Grand Harbour is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

In the coming months, Infrastructure Malta will launch the project to extend the quays for cruise liners in Pinto Wharf. As a result, larger vessels will be able to dock in the port without the need for barges.

Meanwhile, the work on the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project (GHCAP) is well underway to develop the electricity infrastructure for vessels to switch off their gasoil- or heavy-fuel-oil-fired engines and plug in to shoreside electricity to energise their onboard systems whilst they are berthed at port.

This €49.9 million investment will reduce more than 90% of the air pollution produced by cruise liners and cargo ships in the Grand Harbour. Through this project, co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, Infrastructure Malta is thus improving air quality for 17,000 families living in the vicinity of the Grand Harbour.

This project is co-financed by the European Union through the Cohesion Fund Operational Programme I 2014-2020.

Rebuilding the Marsascala breakwater

• 08 Jul, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta is starting the second phase of a project to rebuild the old breakwater and its adjacent quays in the inner part of Marsascala Bay.

This €1.9 million project started last year with the reconstruction of 140 metres of quays along San Gorg Street, close to the Marsascala Parish Church, along the northern shore of the bay. These quays are popular among Marsascala residents and visitors for swimming and for seaside walks. Their foundations were scoured by decades of sea erosion and their concrete surfaces were cracked and pitted. In recent years, parts of them collapsed into the sea. Infrastructure Malta rebuilt these quays in a new, safer design, including a wave wall to protect pedestrians and adjacent buildings from rough seas.

The second phase of works includes the consolidation and rebuilding of the 80-year-old breakwater that shelters this part of this bay. While the subsea structure of the outer half of this 30-metre breakwater is still standing, the inner half, closer to the quays along the shore, had practically disintegrated.

Earlier this week, Infrastructure Malta started demolishing parts of the breakwater that were about to cave in. When the damaged sections are removed, a team of builders and divers will level the seabed to lay new foundations with large precast concrete blocks, up to the surface. They will then consolidate the foundations of the outer half, which will be retained, before casting the wave wall, cope beams and the new concrete deck. The agency will then complete this new structure with safety and navigational aids for mariners. Weather permitting, all works will be ready by the end of the year. 

These new quays and breakwater are the second Infrastructure Malta project at Marsascala Bay since its establishment in 2018. Two years ago, it completed another €1 million project to rebuild smaller quays at the Zonqor area of this bay. Last year, the agency completed another €3.4 million project to rebuild three jetties used by fishers and mariners in St Thomas Bay, in the same locality.

Infrastructure Malta’s maritime infrastructure team is currently also rebuilding another breakwater at Marfa, in Mellieha. It is also working to start developing a new 180-metre breakwater at Bugibba, in St Paul’s Bay. This project will also include a new passenger terminal to extend the existing Marsamxett and Grand Harbour public transport ferry services to this locality. These two projects will be co-financed by the European Union. Grand Harbour Clean Air Project is another important EU-funded green investment that Infrastructure Malta will be completing next year. It will introduce shore-to-ship electricity connections for cruise liners visiting the Grand Harbour, to cut 90% of their air pollution in this region.

New Cospicua ferry landing facilities in first half of 2022

• 20 Dec, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta is opening new landing facilities for ferry passengers in Cospicua during the first half of 2022, after final installation works in the coming months. 

The new ferry landing facilities form part of a €5 million project part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union, to introduce safer infrastructure for passengers of this alternative mode of public transport between Cospicua, Sliema and Valletta.

The agency’s contractors completed the first phase of the Cospicua landing site earlier this year. It included the construction of a complex quay structure almost three storeys underwater, supported on 19 concrete piles drilled even deeper into the seabed. The quay is located along the seafront pedestrian route connecting the Dock 1 area of Cospicua with Senglea (through the Dock 1 bridge) and with the Vittoriosa Waterfront and Kalkara, making it easily accessible to residents, workers and visitors in these localities.

During the final phase of this project, Infrastructure Malta is completing the new quay with sheltered waiting areas, booths for ticket machines and other amenities to increase passengers’ comfort, safety and accessibility. The quays will also have movable passenger bridges (ramps) for the safe embarkation and landing of passengers, making this service accessible to all. Through these passenger bridges and the quay’s new fenders, the ferries (water buses) will no longer need to be moored to the quay before passengers can board or disembark. The new passenger bridges will also enable simultaneous embarkation and disembarkation to continue reducing journey times.

As part of this EU-funded project, Infrastructure Malta is also finishing a similar ferry landing quay in the Ferries area of Sliema. Once this quay’s construction is ready, next year it will start equipping it with new facilities for passengers, like the ones in Cospicua. This landing place is also planned to be completed in 2022. Meanwhile, the agency will soon launch an upgrade of the existing ferry landing site at the Marsamxett side of Valletta as well.  

As ferry passenger patronage continues to increase, Infrastructure Malta is planning new infrastructure to extend this mode of public transport beyond the Grand Harbour and the Marsamxett Harbour, towards St Paul’s Bay.

Last summer Infrastructure Malta built the two terminals for the new Gozo-Valletta fast ferry service for passengers travelling between the two islands. It also finished the rebuilding of three jetties in St Thomas Bay, Marsascala. In Mellieha, it rebuilt the deck of one of the old Gozo ferry quays in Cirkewwa, while a short distance away it is now upgrading the Marfa Breakwater.

Another EU-funded project that will soon be ready is the €6 million development of quays, slipways and pontoons for fishers in Gozo’s Mgarr Harbour. Other ongoing investments include the reconstruction of the quays in the area known as Sally Port, in Vittoriosa, transforming a derelict site into a new promenade.

Infrastructure Malta is also implementing the €49.9 million Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, to develop shore power facilities for cruise liners and Ro-Ro cargo vessels while berthed in port. Part-financed by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility, this investment will cut over 90% of the air pollution that these ships produce when visiting Malta.

Protecting the Maghluq area of Marsaxlokk

• 07 Sep, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta is implementing a €2 million project to protect the Marsaxlokk Nature Reserve and the sandy beach and fishers’ marina next to it from coastal erosion.

The agency is piloting an infrastructural intervention to reduce the gradual erosion and lateral displacement of sand and other coastal sediments caused by waves, wind and currents along the Maghluq area of Marsaxlokk Harbour. This stretch of coast includes the Nature Reserve’s protected saline marshland known as “Il-Ballut ta’ Marsaxlokk”, a very rare Maltese natural habitat and a Natura 2000 site. Next to this Reserve, there is a beach and a small marina for fishing vessels. 

With the support and collaboration of the Environment and Resources Authority and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, Infrastructure Malta is forming two temporary groynes jutting out some 70 metres perpendicular to the shore. They consist of low peninsular structures built with hundreds of large limestone boulders to stop sands and other sediments from being dragged sideways from the marshland and the adjacent beach towards the harbour’s fairway and the fishers’ marina. 

The area is subject to longshore sediment drift, a current that transports sand along the shoreline. Rough seas also cause overtopping, as large amounts of sand are deposited in the creek by wave action. These movements alter the seabed depths, rendering parts of the fairway unsafe to mariners. Shifted sand deposited in the marina reduces its accessibility as well. To further contain this overtopping, Infrastructure Malta is also building a low revetment wall along the outer part of the creek. 

The agency’s maritime infrastructure team also launched mathematical studies to assess the effectiveness of these interventions and to design and plan longer-lasting structures to continue sheltering this side of the Marsaxlokk port. 

Through this project, Infrastructure Malta is also raising parts of the marina’s quays, to improve their safety. Last year, the agency replaced the old pontoons in this marina with three new ones, each between 48 metres and 60 metres long. New ramps on the raised quays will make these pontoons accessible to all. Workers will also lay new underground networks to provide water and electricity services to this marina.

In the meantime, other parts of this shore are being upgraded through separate embellishment projects by other entities.   

Last year, Infrastructure Malta completed another €4 million project to protect the other side of the inner part of Marsaxlokk Harbour with a new 110-metre breakwater at Qrejten Point.

The agency is currently also implementing several other coastal infrastructure investments in Malta and Gozo. Earlier this summer it completed the construction of new terminals for the new Gozo-Valletta fast ferry service. In Mellieha, it rebuilt one of the old Gozo ferry quays in Cirkewwa, while a short distance away it is now starting a €2.1 million reconstruction of the Marfa Breakwater.

Another project that will soon be ready is the €6 million upgrading of the quays, slipways and pontoons used by fishers in Gozo’s Mgarr Harbour. Other ongoing investments include the new landing facilities for passenger ferry services (water buses) from Sliema and Cospicua to Valletta, and the reconstruction of circa 600 metres of quays in the area known as Sally Port, in Vittoriosa, transforming a derelict site into a new promenade.

Towards the end of 2020, the agency also launched the €49.9 million Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, to develop shore power facilities for cruise liners and Ro-Ro cargo vessels while berthed in port. This investment will cut over 90% of the air pollution that these ships produce when visiting Malta.
 

Final works of Gozo to Valletta fast ferry terminals

• 25 May, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta is entering the final stages of a €2.5 million project to build new terminals for the new Gozo-Valletta fast ferry service starting next month. 

Earlier this year, Infrastructure Malta was commissioned by Transport Malta to develop the fast ferry landing sites and related passenger facilities at Mgarr, Harbour and at Barriera Wharf, in the Grand Harbour. Works at the two ports started immediately with the drilling of cores for the embedding of concrete piles up to seven storeys into the ground. These piles are reinforcing the two landing areas, to support the ferries’ mooring loads and to upgrade them with new quay structures and fenders that will facilitate the provision of this alternative mode of travel between the two islands. 

The two new ferry landing sites will also have ticketing booths, a marshalling zone as well as sheltered waiting areas and public toilets for passengers. Emergency equipment to ensure passengers’ safety will also be installed. 

The construction of the new quay structures and buildings at the two locations is now almost ready, and finishing works, including mechanical and electrical installations, are in progress. Workers are also erecting steel railings around the marshalling areas, for increased security.

As part of this project, Infrastructure Malta is upgrading part of the road, roundabout and tunnel next to Barriera Wharf, to create a safe pedestrian route between the new ferry landing site and the Upper Barrakka Lift, which will take passengers to the centre of Valletta.

At Mgarr Harbour, the agency is also carrying out underwater repairs to the existing quay structure, which is also used by the ferries operating the existing Ro-Ro ferry services to Cirkewwa, and for other maritime operations. Recent studies of these structures, which date back decades, identified several underwater damages which needed to be repaired along with parts of the quay’s cope beam.

The agency is working to complete most works of this project in the coming days, so that the new fast ferry service being coordinated by Transport Malta can commence next month, as planned.

In the meantime, Infrastructure Malta is currently also implementing another €5 million project to build new ferry landing sites and passenger facilities in Sliema and Cospicua, encouraging more commuters to choose these harbours’ public transport ferries when travelling between Cottonera, Valletta and Sliema.
 

Grand Harbour Clean Air Project cable works gather pace

• 04 Mar, 2021 |

As the first phase of the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project gathers pace, Infrastructure Malta has already laid over eight kilometres of the cables required to make Malta’s principal port one of the first in Europe to introduce shore power for cruise liners and Ro-Ros. 

The Grand Harbour Clean Air Project (GHCAP) includes the development of the electricity infrastructure for these ships to switch off their gas- or heavy-fuel-oil-fired engines and plug in to shoreside electricity to power their onboard systems, whilst they are berthed at port. Through this €49.9 million investment, Infrastructure Malta is improving air quality for 17,000 families living in the Grand Harbour area by reducing more than 90% of the air pollution emitted by these vessels.

Preliminary studies indicate that through the GHCAP, within 20 years Malta will save up to €375 million in costs linked to the measurable consequences of air pollution, such as impacts on health, the natural environment, infrastructure and agriculture. It will also reduce the impact of cruise liner noise and engine vibrations in the Grand Harbour area. These health and environmental benefits will make this project the second-largest contribution to improved air quality in Malta, following the decommissioning of heavy fuel oil power stations in Marsa and Marsaxlokk in 2017.

Works on this project started three months ago, soon after the European Commission included the GHCAP in a list of 140 transport infrastructure projects across Europe that will be co-financed through Connecting Europe Facility, the European Union's scheme for sustainable transport infrastructure.

The project contractors are excavating trenches in several locations along the Grand Harbour’s shoreline to lay the underground electricity cables that will distribute electricity from an existing Enemalta plc primary substation (distribution centre) in Jesuits Hill, Marsa to the Grand Harbour’s cruise liner quays in Floriana, Marsa and Senglea. Over eight kilometres of this 22-kilometre network of cables are already in place.
 
The first branch of this network, which is nearing completion, will connect the existing Enemalta substation with the Deep Water Quay, where Infrastructure Malta will build one of the project’s two frequency converter stations. The project contractors are also constructing underground ducts for the 11-kilovolt cables which will distribute power from this station to the quays and the shore-to-ship connection points at Pinto Wharf, along the Valletta side of the Grand Harbour. 

The second stretch of cables is directed towards Bridge Wharf and Church Wharf in Marsa. From here, submarine cables will extend the network to Coal Wharf in Corradino, Paola and subsequently to Boiler Wharf, in Senglea, on the other side of the Harbour. Cable laying works along this part of the network are in progress as well.

These connections will reach the five main quays that cruise liners use when visiting Malta. At each quay, Infrastructure Malta is building quayside stations to house switchgear and shore-to-ship connection panels. The first of these small buildings is under construction at Pinto Wharf.  

This month, the project contractors will start coring works to embed eight-storey concrete piles beneath the Deep Water Quay, in Marsa. These foundations will support the first frequency converter station that will convert electricity for cruise liners and other ships. The other frequency converter station will be installed in an old industrial shed in Boiler Wharf, Senglea. Infrastructure Malta will restore and conserve this shed as part of Malta’s industrial heritage. 

Meanwhile, in a factory in Italy, the agency’s contractors are fabricating the project’s frequency converters. Other power and control equipment, including switchgear and transformers, will be fabricated in specialised factories in other countries. 

The second phase of the project will extend shore side electricity to Laboratory Wharf and to Ras Hanzir (Fuel Wharf), in Paola, where Infrastructure Malta will be building a new 360-metre cargo handling facility in the coming years. These two locations will open up shoreside electricity to Ro-Ro ships as well.   

A 2015 European report indicates that the engines of one cruise ship berthed at port for eight hours produce an estimated 1.2 tonnes of nitrogen oxides, the equivalent of 300,000 cars driving from Cirkewwa to Marsaxlokk. It releases 30 kilograms of particulate matter, the same as 180,000 cars travelling the same distance across Malta. According to the National Statistics Office, 372 cruise liners visited Malta in 2019.  

Through the first phase of this project, Infrastructure Malta will drastically reduce the emissions of cruise ships visiting Malta. By switching off their auxiliary engines, cruise liners will emit 93% less nitrogen oxides, 92.6% less particulate matter and 99.6% less sulphur dioxide. These pollutants are among the principal causes of respiratory illnesses and other health problems. The first phase of the GHCAP will also cut 39.6% of the cruise liners’ carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to the climate emergency.

The European Union’s 2014 directive on the deployment of alternative fuels (2014/ 94/EU) stipulates that member states should prioritise the introduction of shore-side electricity supply in ports of the TEN-T Core Network, such as the Grand Harbour, by end 2025. Infrastructure Malta is planning to complete the first phase of the GHCAP by 2023.
 

Infrastructure Malta completes Qrejten Breakwater Project

• 28 Jan, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta completed the new 110-metre Qrejten Breakwater, a €4 million EU-funded investment to shelter the Marsaxlokk fishing port and surrounding coastal areas.

For many years, Marsaxlokk fishers have been calling for a new breakwater to protect the inner harbour area from rough seas, limiting the risks of storm damages to their anchored vessels and other equipment on shore. By absorbing the power of high waves entering this part of the harbour, the breakwater is also reducing their impact on the buildings and business operations along the Marsaxlokk promenade, one of Malta’s principal tourism zones.  

Plans for this project were handed over to Infrastructure Malta in 2019, when it was entrusted with the development and maintenance of the country’s maritime infrastructure. Its contractors started works on site in July of the same year. Works were completed within 18 months, in December.

The construction of the breakwater started with the laying of the base structure, a six-metre wide platform submerged 3.5 metres down to the seabed. The builders and a team of divers lowered 306 large precast concrete hollow blocks on a levelling platform, before filling and binding them together with poured concrete. The entire underwater structure of this long breakwater comprises a mass of 4,952 tonnes of concrete and rebar.
  
Above this substructure, Infrastructure Malta built a 2.3-metre high wave wall and an outer cope beam, using another 955 tonnes of reinforced concrete. The tip of the breakwater includes a seven-metre lighthouse with beacons for safer navigation in this area. The concrete structure of the breakwater is surrounded with a sloping rock armour made of 30,285 tonnes of hardstone boulders. The project contractors cut this hardstone from a quarry in Dingli and gradually laid it around the breakwater. This armour will attenuate waves entering the harbour, as they hit the breakwater.

In December, Infrastructure Malta completed this project with the installation of lighting and power systems, surveillance cameras, utility service modules for moored vessels, firefighting equipment, safety ladders and mooring bollards. The breakwater is also equipped with an anemometer, a tidal guage and a windsock.  

Infrastructure Malta’s maritime team is currently implementing several other major coastal investments in Malta and Gozo. On the other side of Marsaxlokk Harbour, the agency is upgrading the berthing pontoons in the area known as “Il-Maghluq”. It is also conducting preliminary studies to plan another breakwater or other similar protective structures in the Delimara area of the harbour, to shelter this side of Marsaxlokk’s coastline as well.  

The €6 million upgrade of the quays, slipways and pontoons used by fishers in Gozo’s Mgarr Harbour will be ready in the coming weeks. Another ongoing project includes the development of new landing facilities for ferry passengers in Sliema and Cospicua. Infrastructure Malta is also working on the maintenance and reconstruction of other quays in Marsascala, Delimara and Cirkewwa. Towards the end of 2020, the agency also launched the €49.9 million Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, which includes the development of shore power facilities for cruise liners and Ro-Ro vessels whilst they are berthed at port. This investment will cut over 90% of the air pollution that cruise liners and Ro-Ro ships produce when visiting Malta. 

Other upcoming maritime infrastructure projects include the reconstruction of Sally Port, in Vittoriosa, and the introduction of more new passenger ferry landing facilities to extend this alternative mode of travel to other coastal locations in Malta.

Grand Harbour Clean Air Project gets underway

• 30 Nov, 2020 |

Infrastructure Malta is kicking off the first phase of the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, which will cut over 90% of the air pollution that cruise liners and Ro-Ro ships produce when visiting Malta's principal port.

The Grand Harbour Clean Air Project (GHCAP) includes the development of the electricity infrastructure required for these ships to switch off their gas- or heavy-fuel-oil-fired engines and plug in to shoreside electricity to power their onboard systems, including their catering and ‘hotel’ services, whilst they are berthed at port.

Through this €49.9 million investment, Infrastructure Malta will make the Grand Harbour one of the first ports to operate this kind of environmental technology in Europe. To date, only Hamburg, in Germany, and Kristiansand, in Norway, have working shoreside electricity solutions. In August, the European Commission included the GHCAP in a list of 140 transport infrastructure projects across Europe that will be co-financed through the Connecting Europe Facility, the European Union's grant scheme supporting sustainable transport infrastructure. Infrastructure Malta secured €21.9 million of the €37 million required for the first phase of this project through this EU fund.   

A few weeks ago Infrastructure Malta selected the contractor that will be implementing this project, following an international call for tenders. Soon after, this contractor started excavating the first trenches for the underground electricity cables that will distribute electricity from an existing Enemalta plc primary substation (distribution centre) in Jesuits Hill, Marsa to the Grand Harbour’s cruise liner quays in Floriana, Marsa and Senglea. This week, workers are starting to lay the first stretch of this 22-kilometre network of 33-kilovolt cables in the Menqa area of Marsa. 
 
The first branch of this network will connect the existing substation with the Deep Water Quay and Pinto Wharf, along the Valletta side of the Grand Harbour. The second stretch of cables will go down Jesuits Hill towards Bridge Wharf and Church Wharf in Marsa. From here, submarine cables will extend the network to Coal Wharf in Corradino, Paola and subsequently to Boiler Wharf, in Senglea, on the other side of the Harbour. These connections will reach the five main quays that cruise liners use when visiting Malta. At each quay, Infrastructure Malta will be installing shore side transformers and shore-to-ship connection panels that enable vessels to turn off their combustion engines and switch to electrical power as soon as they berth. 

The project contractors will soon also start developing two frequency converter stations to convert electricity to the frequencies used on board cruise liners and other ships. One of them will be in part of an old industrial shed in Boiler Wharf, which Infrastructure Malta will restore and conserve as part of Malta’s industrial heritage. The second frequency station location is in the Deep Water Quay area, next to an existing industrial structure. 

The second phase of the project will extend shore side electricity to Laboratory Wharf and to Ras Hanzir (Fuel Wharf), in Paola, where Infrastructure Malta will be building a new cargo handling facility in the coming years. These two locations will open up shoreside electricity to Ro-Ro ships, which berth at the Grand Harbour to transport wheeled cargo, such as cars and trucks, to and from Malta.   

Preliminary studies indicate that through the GHCAP, within 20 years Malta will save up to €375 million in costs linked to the measurable consequences of air pollution, such as impacts on health, the natural environment, infrastructure and agriculture. It will also reduce the impact of cruise liner noise and engine vibrations in the Grand Harbour area. These health and environmental benefits will make this project the second-largest contribution to improved air quality in Malta following the decommissioning of heavy fuel oil power stations in Marsa and Marsaxlokk in 2017.

A 2015 European report indicates that one cruise ship berthed at port for eight hours produces an estimated 1.2 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide, the equivalent of 300,000 cars driving from Cirkewwa (Mellieha) to Marsaxlokk. It releases 30 kilograms of particulate matter, the same as 180,000 cars travelling the same distance across Malta. According to the National Statistics Office, 372 cruise liners visited Malta in 2019.  

Through the first phase of this Infrastructure Malta project, the emissions of cruise ships visiting Malta will be drastically reduced, improving air quality in several localities in the northern and southern harbour regions. By switching off their auxiliary engines, cruise liners visiting Valletta will emit 93% less nitrogen dioxide, 92.6% less particulate matter and 99.6% less sulphur dioxide. These pollutants are among the principal causes of respiratory illnesses and other health problems. The first phase of the GHCAP will also cut 39.6% of the cruise liners’ carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to the climate emergency.

The European Union’s 2014 directive on the deployment of alternative fuels (2014/ 94/EU) stipulates that member states should prioritise the introduction of shore-side electricity supply in ports of the TEN-T Core Network, such as the Grand Harbour, by end 2025. Infrastructure Malta is planning to complete the first phase of the GHCAP by 2023.
 

Call for tenders for the Sally Port Promenade Project

• 03 Oct, 2020 |

Infrastructure Malta issued a call for tenders for the Sally Port Promenade Project, a €9 million investment to rebuild and embellish the dilapidated quays beneath the Vittoriosa bastions between Fort St Angelo and the Kalkara seafront. 

This project includes the reconstruction of Sally Port Road and circa 600 metres of quays on which it is built, in the area known as “It-Toqba”. It will turn a neglected seafront area in Cottonera into a new promenade, with safe, paved footpaths, benches and decorative lighting. This new outdoor open space will be easily accessible from the centre of Vittoriosa through the sally port tunnel in the bastions above the same road. It will also be linked to the Birgu Waterfront in the Fort St Angelo area through an existing corridor, creating an uninterrupted pedestrian route from the Bighi area of Kalkara to the Birgu marina, the Dock 1 area of Cospicua, the Senglea waterfront and on towards Boiler Wharf, beneath the Gardjola Gardens.    
 
The project also includes the laying of several underground networks, such as electricity and water distribution networks, new lighting, as well as the construction of two slipways for the area’s fishers and for the boats of Vittoriosa’s traditional Maltese regatta rowers. Infrastructure Malta is also rebuilding the old public convenience facilities in the same area. The new low building will have an improved design complementing the bastions behind it.   

The planning of this project started in 2018 with initial studies and underwater surveys to determine the structural condition of the Sally Port quays. After years of storm damages and lack of maintenance and repairs, these quays started to become inaccessible, with serious safety risks to road users, mariners and pedestrians. During the February 2019 storm which caused extensive damages in different parts of Malta, long sections of the heavily-scoured quays caved in, blocking the road on it. Infrastructure Malta carried out temporary repairs to render the road safe and intensified work on the reconstruction plans, which had been assigned to it a month earlier when the agency’s remit was extended to incorporate maritime infrastructure. 

As part of the design and planning of the new quays, Infrastructure Malta is consulting the Planning Authority, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Environment and Resources Authority, to ensure the protection of this area’s heritage and of the Grand Harbour’s marine environment. Once the applicable permits are in hand, the agency will complete the construction of the new promenade and the rebuilding of Sally Port Road within 18 months. 

In the meantime, last year, Infrastructure Malta and the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC) started talks to extend this project to the rest of the Kalkara waterfront, so that the entire area can be embellished with the same design features. As a result, Infrastructure Malta will be implementing the Sally Port Promenade Project in conjunction with the GHRC’s upgrading of the rest of the Kalkara waterfront, including the locality’s square, with new footpaths and a reorganisation of the area’s parking spaces for increased safety. 

Infrastructure Malta’s project will focus on the major civil works, including the reconstruction of the quays, the building of the promenade and the installation of new underground networks, whilst GHRC will take care of the finishes, such as paving, decorative lighting and street furniture. The two entities are pooling their resources to ensure that this popular seaside location is regenerated in the shortest time possible.