First Vjal Kulħadd project: Works started in Żejtun and Żabbar

• 12 Oct, 2024 |

Infrastructure Malta is undertaking a project to enhance Triq Żabbar, the road connecting Żejtun and Żabbar, with the aim of creating a safer and more accessible route for pedestrians and cyclists. This initiative is the first project under the Vjal Kulħadd scheme, where the Żejtun and Żabbar local councils have collaborated to improve the safety and accessibility of this key road linking their communities.

The concept for this joint project arose from the recognition that, while this road is frequently used by the local communities, it lacks dedicated infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. Many residents walk from Żabbar to Żejtun via Triq l-Aħħar Ħbit mit-Torok (taċ-Ċawsli) and return to Żabbar through Triq Żabbar. However, the current condition of Triq Żabbar raises safety concerns, as it lacks footpaths and cycle lanes, forcing pedestrians to walk along the edges of the main road.

To address these issues, Infrastructure Malta is working with both local councils to transform Triq Żabbar into a safer and more accessible route. The plan involves creating a segregated passageway dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists, providing a shared but safe space. Although the road's width does not permit a layout identical to that of Triq l-Aħħar Ħbit mit-Torok, the proposed design will ensure a secure route for non-vehicular traffic, significantly enhancing overall safety.

The project, which spans over one kilometer, also includes additional landscaping along the route, integrating existing trees and rebuilding rubble boundary walls; works that are already underway. It features all the key attributes of the main scheme objectives such as: links with existing alternative cycle routes, walking paths between villages, new cycle paths and aesthetically pleasing walking paths. The extension of such shared mobility lanes will mean an extra 1,800sqm of new landscaping area and an additional 80 trees lining the road.

Moreover, Infrastructure Malta is aware of the recurring ponding issues along this road and will introduce measures to address and reduce stormwater runoff settling within the road surface, ensuring a better experience for all users.

“This collaboration between the Żejtun and Żabbar local councils under the Vjal Kulħadd initiative is a perfect example of how we can work together to enhance community spaces,” said Steve Ellul, CEO of Infrastructure Malta. “By creating safer and more sustainable routes for pedestrians and cyclists, we are prompting safer, more sustainable transport options.”

For more information about Vjal Kulħadd, please visit our website: vjalkulhadd.com

New outdoor art gallery at the Marsa Junction

• 18 Apr, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta and the The Mikiel Anton Vassalli College – Malta School of Art set up a new outdoor art gallery along the principal walking and cycling track and bus lay-by of the Marsa Junction.

The open-air gallery, the second of its kind in Malta, features thirty large frames that will be showcasing artwork prints of the School’s students and tutors. Through this collaboration, Infrastructure Malta is continuing to enhance the experience of commuters who use the roads, footpaths, bus lay-bys, cycle lanes and park and ride areas of the country’s busiest junction.

The first collection in this gallery, which will remain on display for a few months, includes artworks by 27 artists, comprising current students and artist-teachers of the School, as well as works by its former students, from its archives. This combination of work from students and tutors is an ode to the tradition of exhibitions organised by the School of Art in the past when teachers, such as the celebrated Maltese artists Emvin Cremona and Carmelo Mangion, would display their works alongside their students.

The selected artworks explore the key elements of art namely line, colour, shape, form and texture. Some of the works study these elements in a formal manner through experimentations with composition, contrasting and complementary colours, use of patterns, layering effect, perspective and optical illusion amongst others.  Others use such elements to express an existential, philosophical or conceptual standpoint - a personal world view or a socio-political argument. 

The themes explored include environmental sustainability, beauty, displacement, fragmentation, transformation and the dimension of memory among others. The media and technical approach adopted for the works exhibited varies from drawing to painting, mixed-media and collage work, photography, digital art and manipulation to printmaking techniques such as etching, lino-printing, wood-cut and mono-printing.

The participating learners of the first exhibition are Alexander Buhagiar Said, Tattiana Mazzelli, Anthea Aquilina, Ayasha Abela, Vincent Cassar, Tristan Grixti, Sasha Szlobogyan, Matthias Borg, Aida Baely, Joseph Pace, Sandro Grech, Alberto Favaro and Stephanie Micallef. The School’s tutors who contributed to this project are Jeremy Amaira, Thomas Scerri, Joyce Camilleri, Roderick Camilleri, Daniela Guevska, Sephora Borg, Isaac Warrington, Stephen Vella, Kamy Aquilina, Leanne Lewis, Edera Bellizzi and Noel Azzopardi.

The Malta School of Art was founded almost a hundred years ago, establishing itself as a major influence in the progress and artistic research of visual arts in Malta. Today the school offers a wide variety of courses, both formal and informal, designed to reach a wide cross section of learners.

Infrastructure Malta completed the €70 million Marsa Junction Project in April 2021 and embellished it with extensive landscaped areas, including 18,195 trees, shrubs and other plants, as well as four monumental artworks. The agency will continue funding two art exhibitions by the School of Art’s students and artist-teachers at the Junction’s new outdoor gallery every year.  

Mr Victor Galea, Head of the Mikiel Anton Vassalli College Network welcomed Infrastructure Malta’s interest in supporting the creative output of the Malta School of Art. “It is a central aim of the school to encourage learners to reach their full potential in visual arts also by providing opportunities to exhibit their work and participate in projects that go beyond the parameters of the school. The Mikiel Anton Vassalli College is very keen to see this collaboration develop further with the continued involvement of the Malta School of Art learners,” said Mr Galea. 

Ing. Fredrick Azzopardi, Infrastructure Malta’s chief executive officer, thanked the Malta School of Art for sharing the artworks of its students and tutors in the new outdoor art gallery. “Pedestrians, bus passengers and cyclists will definitely enjoy the diversified selection of works that the School is presenting at such an easily-accessible location in Marsa, this year’s Capital of Culture. Infrastructure Malta is committed to continue working with local and international artists to create more artworks for its public infrastructure, while supporting the country’s creative development.”         

Infrastructure Malta and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology’s Institute for the Creative Arts set up the Marsa-Hamrun Bypass outdoor gallery, the first of its kind in Malta, in December 2020.

Translocating endangered coral colonies at the Grand Harbour

• 10 Apr, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta translocated pillow coral colonies from Pinto Wharf to other areas of the Grand Harbour, to protect them before it starts works to extend this wharf’s quays in the coming months.

Mediterranean cushion coral (Cladocora caespitosa) is a protected species of stony coral endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. It is listed as an endangered species in the Red List of Threatened Species, due to several threats including rising sea temperatures, sea pollution and human intrusions to their habitats, such as shipping and coastal recreational and industrial developments.

During the planning of an upcoming project to rebuild and extend the cruise liner quays at Pinto Wharf, marine benthic surveys identified the existence of small and medium-sized colonies of pillow corals along the wharf’s submerged wall. While all applicable mitigation measures to minimise the environmental impact of the quays’ reconstruction will be implemented, the works can still affect the corals’ existing habitat. In the quays’ new design, the existing wharf wall will be covered by an overlying structure, blocking sunlight from reaching the corals. Due to these threats to their survival, scientists and the environmental authorities recommended the corals’ translocation.

A few weeks ago, a team of scientists and specialised divers led by marine biology researchers Professor Joseph A. Borg and Dr Julian Evans launched a delicate operation to carefully cut the concrete surfaces on which the fragile coral colonies were living and re-attach them to similar underwater surfaces in other areas of the Grand Harbour in Cospicua and Kalkara. Since these corals are very sensitive to elevated temperatures and other changes in their habitat, the divers had to keep the detached colonies submerged in large water-filled containers and immediately transport them by boat to re-attach them in an identical environment in their new locations.   

The operation saved 41 coral colonies, moving them away from the area where Infrastructure Malta will soon start reconstruction works. Scientists will continue monitoring the relocated corals to assess their state of health and to identify improvements for future translocations of this species. The operation was planned in consultation with the Environment and Resources Authority.

Infrastructure Malta is soon starting the upgrading of cruise liner quays 4 and 5 at Pinto Wharf, as well as Lascaris Wharf next to them. It will consolidate and extend these structures, to facilitate berthing operations. The new quays will also have shore-to-ship electricity connections, which the agency is installing as part of the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project. This EU-funded project is introducing shoreside electricity in the Grand Harbour to reduce more than 90% of the air pollution emitted by cruise liners and other vessels visiting Malta.

1400 trees and shrubs for three Naxxar roads

• 16 Mar, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta is launching a project to embellish Margaret A. Murray Road, Andrea Debono Road and Jean Houel Road in Naxxar with 400 trees and 1,000 shrubs.

These three interconnected main roads between the Naxxar end of Tal-Balal Road and the T’Alla u Ommu Roundabout are flanked by long service roads with rows of houses and apartments. On Wednesday, Infrastructure Malta is starting to remove parts of the concrete slabs separating the three roads from the adjacent residential roads to build 1.6 kilometres of new landscaping strips.

Landscaping contractors will be filling these landscaping strips with soil to plant olive, holm oak, cypress and Aleppo pine trees, along with several species of indigenous shrubs, such as lentisk and shrubby germander. Infrastructure Malta will continue watering and taking care of these trees and shrubs, to grow into a strip of greenery between the three main roads and the streets next to them. This will create a green belt separating the residences from the thoroughfares in front of them, to reduce traffic noise and improve air quality for hundreds of families.

Infrastructure Malta designed the new landscaping strips within the existing road structures’ footprint, without reducing parking spaces, footpaths, pedestrian crossings and vehicle lanes. Works are going to be split in phases along the three roads, so that they are carried out safely, without closing lanes or causing difficulties to residents and road users.

Infrastructure Malta planted 22,162 trees in Malta and Gozo in 2021, an average of 60 trees a day.

The agency’s nationwide afforestation initiative has already added more than 42,000 trees and 38,000 shrubs in different urban and rural locations since it was launched in summer 2019. It is also contracting landscaping companies to continue watering and taking care of these trees and shrubs for several years, until they are established in their environment. If any of them are damaged or stolen, or if they do not survive, the agency is replacing them with new ones.

First Grand Harbour Clean Air Project frequency converters in place

• 19 Feb, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta installed the first three of four frequency converters that will convert electricity to supply shoreside electricity to cruise liners in the Grand Harbour, cutting 90% of their air pollution.

Grand Harbour Clean Air Project (GHCAP) is a €49.9 million environmental investment to develop the electricity infrastructure for cruise liners and cargo ships 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. Through this investment co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, Infrastructure Malta is improving air quality for 17,000 families living in the Grand Harbour area.

In January, Infrastructure Malta completed the construction of this project’s two frequency converter stations. They are located at the Deep Water Quay in Marsa and in part of a large British-era shed at Boiler Wharf, Senglea. 

This month, the project contractors launched extensive electrical engineering works to equip these stations with the required systems. They will include 18 transformers ranging from 0.5MVA to 21 MVA, four frequency converters and 71 switchgear units, which together will convert and control the distribution of electricity to the frequencies and variable power outputs required by vessels visiting the Grand Harbour. The stations will also house chillers, backup power systems, fire safety equipment, operational control stations and other control and protection technologies.

Infrastructure Malta lifted and positioned the three frequency converters of the frequency converter station in Marsa a few days ago, as it continues the installation of other equipment and tens of kilometres of electricity and control cables. The frequency converters were shipped to Malta from a factory in Milan, Italy in December.

Meanwhile, other equipment is gradually arriving in Malta from other factories in the Czech Republic, Italy and Turkey. Besides equipment for the frequency converter stations and for two smaller quayside stations at Pinto Wharf, Infrastructure Malta is also receiving other quayside systems, including electric towing tractors and cable management vehicles equipped with cranes to move, lift and position the thick cables that will energise the ships. All equipment undergoes rigorous factory acceptance testing under the supervision of the project engineers before it is shipped to Malta.

GHCAP was launched at the end of 2020 with cable laying works to develop the network that will distribute electricity from a nearby Enemalta plc distribution centre in Marsa to the frequency converter stations, and on towards the Grand Harbour’s principal cruise liner quays. While 80% of the high voltage cable network backbone around the port is in place, works are now focusing on the laying of the 90-kilometre network of medium voltage and control cables connecting the equipment in the frequency converter stations with the quayside stations and the 17 ship connection points on the quays.

The first shore-to-ship connections of the cruise liner quays at Pinto Wharf, Floriana and Boiler Wharf, Senglea are scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2023, making Malta one of the first in Europe to adopt this environmental technology on a port-wide scale.  

In 2020, just before project works commenced, the European Commission included GHCAP in a list of 140 transport infrastructure projects across Europe for co-financing through Connecting Europe Facility, the European Union's scheme for sustainable transport infrastructure.

The project will introduce shoreside electricity in the Grand Harbour’s main cruise liner quays in Floriana, Marsa and Senglea. Infrastructure Malta will subsequently extend this technology to Laboratory Wharf and to Ras Hanzir (Fuel Wharf), in Paola, to Lascaris Wharf in Floriana and to parts of the Palumbo Shipyards and the Mediterranean Maritime Hub. At Ras Hanzir, the agency will soon launch the construction of a new 360-metre cargo handling facility to expand the Harbour’s capacity, flexibility and efficiency.

Preliminary studies indicate that through GHCAP, within 20 years Malta will save up to €375 million in costs linked to the measurable consequences of air pollution, such as effects 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.

Through 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. GHCAP will also cut 39.6% of the cruise liners’ carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to the climate emergency.

Infrastructure Malta upgrades 100 rural roads in 2021

• 15 Feb, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta invested €12.5 million to improve 100 rural roads in 2021. 

Many of these countryside roads had been left without adequate maintenance for many years. As old asphalt and concrete surfaces deteriorated, they became unsafe to farmers and residents, and to others who use these quiet routes for walking, running and cycling. Road users also choose rural roads as an alternative to the residential and arterial road network, to get from one place to another using different modes of transport.

Infrastructure Malta used 46,400 tonnes of asphalt and concrete to complete the 37 kilometres of rural roads it rebuilt or resurfaced in 2021. The new surfaces have stronger foundations, for longer-lasting infrastructure that can adequately support the weight of heavy agricultural machinery and other vehicles. Where possible, Infrastructure Malta is also introducing stormwater catchments and road gutters, to reduce flooding risks and storm damages. In agreement with farmers, some stormwater catchments are connected to nearby agricultural reservoirs.

When resurfacing rural roads in areas of ecological importance, Infrastructure Malta ensures that road works are limited to the footprint of pre-existing paved areas. In some cases, in consultation with the environmental authorities, the new surfaces are separated from roadside flora and rubble walls with a narrow unpaved space. While this measure may make a road look unfinished, it helps to preserve its rural landscape and encourage the growth of pollinator plants. Infrastructure Malta is also working with the Environment and Resources Authority to research and test new, environment-friendly paving materials that can be adopted for the surfaces of these roads in the future. 

After consulting the applicable utilities, Infrastructure Malta installed 41.5 kilometres of new underground networks in the rural roads it upgraded in 2021. They include water mains, Internet and other telecommunication ducts, as well as electricity cables to replace aerial lines. The agency is also working with the Water Services Corporation to lay many new pipelines for polished reclaimed water, which farmers started using for sustainable crop irrigation a few years ago.

Since it was established in 2018, Infrastructure Malta completed works in 330 countryside roads in more than 30 different localities. The rebuilding or resurfacing of another 22 rural roads is currently in progress, while works in several others are planned for the coming months.

Infrastructure Malta plants 22162 trees in 2021

• 24 Jan, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta planted 22,162 trees in Malta and Gozo in 2021, an average of 60 trees a day.

The agency’s nationwide afforestation initiative has now added more than 42,000 trees and 38,000 shrubs in different urban and rural locations since it was launched in summer 2019. It is also contracting landscaping companies to continue watering and taking care of these trees and shrubs for several years, until they are established in their environment. If any of them are damaged or stolen, or if they do not survive, the agency is replacing them with new ones. While in 2020 it had to replace over 1,000 trees that were stolen, accidentally damaged or vandalised, this number has drastically decreased last year following the introduction of several security measures, including surveillance cameras.

Infrastructure Malta invested €4.4 million in this tree-planting programme in 2021. It planted new trees and shrubs in 68 different areas in 35 localities. Besides urban and rural roadside open spaces, these locations also include school grounds, areas around the University of Malta and the Institute of Tourism Studies as well as open spaces managed by the Archdiocese of Malta, local Scout groups, sports clubs and other non-governmental organisations. For the first time, Infrastructure Malta also extended this initiative to Gozo, with the planting of trees and shrubs in Xewkija.

Where necessary, before planting, Infrastructure Malta cleans the selected locations, adds soil, repairs or rebuilds boundary walls, installs irrigation systems and carries out other works necessary to create a better environment for the new vegetation. 

During the first half of the year the agency worked with Caritas Malta to form Bosk it-Tama (Grove of Hope), a new space for reflection within the grounds of the San Blas Therapeutic Community, a drug addiction rehabilitation residence in Zebbug. Infrastructure Malta planted 352 indigenous trees and shrubs and installed a new irrigation system to ensure they are regularly watered. The residents of this community are now continuing to take care of these trees and shrubs as part of their rehabilitation programmes.

Infrastructure Malta also worked with the Archdiocese of Malta to create a garden on the roof of the vocational centre at the Archbishop’s Seminary, in Tal-Virtù, Rabat. A first for the agency, this roof garden with 730 trees, shrubs and other plants is complementing the mature gardens around the seminary’s buildings as another place where students and seminarians can find a peaceful environment for quiet reading, study and reflection.  

Many other new trees and shrubs are in landscaped areas that the agency formed around the infrastructural projects it completed during the same year, such as the Marsa Junction Project, the new Gheriexem Road Promenade and the Santa Lucija Roundabout Underpass Project.

This green investment will continue in the coming months, as Infrastructure Malta continues to reach out to local councils and other organisations to plant more trees in other open spaces. Individuals or organisations who would like to suggest public spaces where Infrastructure Malta can plant more trees are encouraged to send their ideas by email on sigar.im@infrastructuremalta.com.

Construction of shore to ship electricity frequency converter stations is ready

• 10 Jan, 2022 |

Infrastructure Malta reached the halfway mark of the first phase of the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, a €49.9 million EU-funded environmental investment to cut 90% of air pollution by cruise liners and cargo ships in Malta’s principal port.

During the last six months, the agency built the two frequency converter stations needed to introduce shore-to-ship electricity in the Grand Harbour, as the first electrical equipment started arriving in Malta from factories in the Czech Republic, Italy and Turkey.

The Grand Harbour Clean Air Project (GHCAP) includes the development of the electricity infrastructure for cruise liners and cargo ships to switch off their gasoil- 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 investment co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, Infrastructure Malta is improving air quality for 17,000 families living in the Grand Harbour area.

The project was launched at the end of 2020 with cable laying works to develop the network that will distribute electricity from a nearby Enemalta plc distribution centre in Marsa to the frequency converter stations, and on towards the Grand Harbour’s principal cruise liner quays. While 80% of the high voltage cable network backbone around the port is in place, in the coming months works will focus on the laying of the 90-kilometre network of medium voltage and control cables connecting the equipment in the frequency converter stations with the quayside stations and the 17 ship connection points on the quays. Most of these cables arrived in Malta a few weeks ago.

A first for Malta and among the first of their kind in the world, the frequency converter stations are located at the Deep Water Quay in Marsa and in part of a large British-era shed at Boiler Wharf, Senglea. Infrastructure Malta is also building two smaller quayside stations at Pinto Wharf to house the shoreside equipment required to connect cruise liners to the project’s new electricity network.

Over the next few months, these buildings will be equipped with 18 transformers ranging from 0.5MVA to 21 MVA, four frequency converters and 71 switchgear units, which together will convert and control the distribution of electricity to the frequencies and variable power outputs required by vessels visiting the Grand Harbour. The two main stations will also house chillers, backup power systems, fire safety equipment, operational control stations and other control and protection technologies.

The project contractors are also manufacturing other quay equipment, including cable management vehicles, towing tractors and cranes to move and lift the thick cables that will energise the ships. Some of this equipment is already in Malta. The first shore-to-ship connections of the cruise liner quays at Pinto Wharf, Floriana and Boiler Wharf, Senglea are scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2023, making Malta one of the first in Europe to adopt this environmental technology on a port-wide scale.    

In 2020, just before project works commenced, the European Commission included the GHCAP in a list of 140 transport infrastructure projects across Europe for co-financing through Connecting Europe Facility, the European Union's scheme for sustainable transport infrastructure.

The first phase of the project will introduce shoreside electricity in the Grand Harbour’s main cruise liner quays in Floriana, Marsa and Senglea. The second phase will extend this technology to Laboratory Wharf and to Ras Hanzir (Fuel Wharf), in Paola, as well. At Ras Hanzir, Infrastructure Malta will soon launch the construction of a new 360-metre cargo handling facility to expand the Harbour’s capacity, flexibility and efficiency.

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 effects 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.

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.

Infrastructure Malta renovates Msida Skatepark

• 22 Dec, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta collaborated with the Malta Skateboard Association to renovate the Msida Skatepark with new ramps and steel rails, new trees, new lighting and new graffiti artworks. 

The Msida Skatepark at the Tal-Qroqq Roundabout, next to the University, had seen very little maintenance since it was opened in 2008. Earlier this year, Infrastructure Malta consulted the Malta Skateboard Association to launch an upgrade of this area, including major waterproofing works to protect the newly-refurbished Tal-Qroqq Tunnels beneath.

The Association proposed several safety improvements to the skatepark’s existing facilities, as well as new ramps and other features to help local skateboarders and BMX riders practise these fast-growing street sports in a better environment. Infrastructure Malta incorporated the Association’s proposals in its plans, as works on site started last August.

Workers replaced all the worn skateboarding steel rails, repaired the boundary walls and the chipped concrete skating surfaces, built several new ramps, installed a new lighting system and repainted the park’s pre-existing decorative lamp posts in a new colour scheme. In the meantime, Infrastructure Malta commissioned a team of 10 graffiti artists led by James Micallef Grimaud to create new street art on some of the skatepark’s concrete surfaces, replacing older works that had faded beyond recognition. 

When the skatepark was developed years ago, the landscaping pits were not adequately waterproofed. As a result, irrigation and storm water was seeping into the Tal-Qroqq Tunnels beneath and damaging its concrete structure. The Tal-Qroqq Tunnels have just been rehabilitated as part of another Infrastructure Malta project to upgrade Malta’s four main road tunnels. Infrastructure Malta redeveloped the skatepark’s landscaping pits with improved waterproofing and stormwater systems. 

The non-indigenous trees removed from the old landscaping pits were transplanted in other locations. The new custom-made planters embellishing the skatepark are equipped with appropriate drainage systems to reduce the risk of water damage in the tunnels beneath. The planters contain 14 new indigenous holm oak trees, palm trees and many other plants. Environment Landscapes Consortium Ltd, the company entrusted with the upkeep of landscaping in Malta’s public spaces, will continue taking care of these trees and plants in the coming years.

Infrastructure Malta creates roof garden at the Archbishop’s Seminary

• 24 Nov, 2021 |

Infrastructure Malta collaborated with the Archdiocese of Malta to create a garden on the roof of the vocational centre at the Archbishop’s Seminary, in Tal-Virtù, Rabat. 

This €300,000 initiative includes a 350-square-metres roof garden with 730 trees, shrubs and other plants, as well as another 50 new olive trees in the Seminary’s grounds nearby. 

The Seminary is naming the roof garden “Fr Nicholas Cachia Meditation Garden” in memory of the late diocesan priest who dedicated his priesthood to the formation of priests in Malta and in the United States and served as spiritual director of the Archbishop’s Seminary for 17 years. The roof garden will complement the mature gardens around the seminary’s buildings as another place where students and seminarians can find a peaceful environment for quiet reading, study, prayer and reflection. While it is equipped with modular irrigation systems, this new garden will also give students of the seminary’s school an opportunity to practise their horticultural skills, as they continue to take care of it during their garden club sessions.

The roof garden includes several species of trees and plants suitable for its growing conditions, such as olive trees, dwarf fan palms, chaste trees, Maltese salt trees, rosemary, golden samphire, Mediterranean stonecrop, Maltese sage, olive-leaved germander, lavender, Maltese helichrysum and the Maltese rock-centaury, Malta’s national plant. The highest part of the roof garden is a nectar café, with pollinator plants to attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators. 

Some of the walls of the garden are also covered with greenery, while glass railings along the edges ensure visitors’ safety without obstructing the countryside views in this area of Rabat. To form this garden without affecting the structural integrity of the building beneath, Infrastructure Malta sourced custom-made lightweight planters and paving materials, as well as lighter types of soil.

Fr Stephen Magro, Director of the Seminary Vocations Centre, said that the ‘Fr Nicholas Cachia Meditation Garden’ project is another space within the natural environment of the Seminary gardens where one may spend quiet time while discovering more about themselves and their faith through nature. He said that Fr Nicholas encouraged many youths to seek quiet moments to meet with the Lord. Fr Stephen Magro also said that this garden will be used by various children, adolescents and youths, including students attending the Seminary school, members of the Seminary Scout Group, as well as those who visit the Seminary for moments of reflection.

Ing. Fredrick Azzopardi, Infrastructure Malta’s Chief Executive Officer, thanked the Archdiocese of Malta and the Archbishop’s Seminary for this opportunity to invest in another green project in the community. Such initiatives form part of Infrastructure Malta’s commitment to sustainability. This project at the Seminary is even more significant as it will form part of the educational development and environmental awareness of many children and young adults. Ing. Azzopardi noted that the agency’s nationwide tree-planting programme is now nearing the end of its fourth year, as it continued to plant thousands of new trees in many different locations in recent months. 

The Archbishop’s Seminary roof garden is not the first environmental project that Infrastructure Malta implemented in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Malta and its entities. Earlier this year, the agency worked with Caritas Malta to transform an abandoned site next to the San Blas Therapeutic Community, in Zebbug, into "Bosk it-Tama" (Grove of Hope), a new space for reflection with 352 trees and shrubs. Last year, Infrastructure Malta planted 1,400 new trees in the gardens of Id-Dar tal-Kleru in Birkirkara, reviving a green lung in one of the few remaining unbuilt areas of this locality. The agency also planted more trees in several other open spaces managed by the Church. 

Individuals or organisations who would like to suggest open spaces that Infrastructure Malta can consider for the planting of new trees are encouraged to send their ideas by email on sigar.im@infrastructuremalta.com. 

For more information visit seminaryvocationscentre.mt or church.mt.