Major Malta Central Link Pledge: ‘Only 254 Trees Will Be Destroyed, All Replacements Will Be Mature’
Malta’s roads agency has pledged only 254 trees will be destroyed as part of the Central Link project and that the replacements which will be planted will all be mature, and not saplings.
An environmental impact assessment states that the project, for which a permit was granted last week, will involve the uprooting of 549 trees and the transplantation of a further 237 trees to another site.
However, Infrastructure Malta has told Lovin Malta that it will only request to pull down 439 trees, including 67 protected ones, in its eventual application to the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).
Out of these 439 trees, 185 will not be discarded but transplanted within the same project area, under the guidance of arborists and other experts in the field.
Meanwhile, a further 539 indigenous trees will be planted within the project area, in Mrieħel, Birkirkara, Balzan, Attard and Ta’ Qali. This means that once the project is completed, the region will be left with a net total of 285 more trees than there are today.
Infrastructure Malta has also played down concerns that the new trees will be saplings which will take several years to grow, promising they will all be mature trees grown in nurseries.
“The project works contract specifies that these trees should be approximately four metres tall when they are planted,” an Infrastructure Malta spokesperson told Lovin Malta. “At the same time, Infrastructure Malta will continue to follow their development and to provide the necessary watering and care for several years, until they are fully integrated in their new environment. All these works will be conducted under the guidance of qualified tree experts.”
After five years, Infrastructure Malta will analyse the trees and will oblige the contractor to replace any which may have died as a result of neglect.
The spokesperson reiterated that the iconic Aleppo pine trees along the western stretch of Triq l-Imdina in Saqqajja won’t be uprooted and that the proposed road infrastructure was specifically designed to safeguard them.
While three trees will be removed from this stretch of road, from the Our Lady of Victory Chapel towards the roundabout at the foot of Saqqajja Hill, Infrastructure Malta will add another 125 Aleppo pine trees and 75 bay laurel trees along this stretch of road. This will form a third row of trees in parallel with the existing ones, next to the two new vehicle lanes and the new bike lane.
Infrastructure Malta said the project will drastically reduce traffic along the main arterial route in central Malta, halving travel times by reconstructing 13 junctions, removing four traffic lights systems and adding over seven kilometres of new lanes along a 4.3 kilometre road corridor.
The project will also include pedestrian footpaths and segregated crossings, bus lay-bys and the longest bike lane in Malta, connecting Mrieħel, Birkirkara, Balzan, Attard and Ta’ Qali.
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