Owners of land lying above Fomm ir-Riħ bay must ensure the government and public’s “perpetual right and access” to the foreshore and sea of the area, a public deed has revealed. 

Publishing by Ramblers Malta, a 1983 deed “establishes gratuitously as from the date of this deed in favour of the Government, on whose behalf the Commissioner of Lands accepts, a perpetual right and access therefrom to the foreshore and the sea over a divided portion of land situated in the locality of Fomm ir-Rih, in the limits of Imgarr, Malta”.

The publication of the deed comes following the controversial erection of a gate blocking public access to the area. The gate was put there by the land’s owner, Malta Developers’ Association Chief Sandro Chetcuti. 

Both Chetcuti and the government have said that the gate was put up to ensure the safety of the public. The Planning Ministry had also told Lovin Malta that the “area had been private for decades”.

Fomm ir-Riħ has been somewhat dangerous to visitors following a clay slop collapse in August 2020, which effectively covered a significant part of the bay.

The government and Chetcuti are now in negotiations to find an agreement to the issue.

The deed, Ramblers Malta said,  means that no private landowner has the power or the right to close off access to the passage, via gate or otherwise and that this is entirely the prerogative of the Government of Malta.