Adi Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd

Client: Transport Malta

Start / Finish Dates:  December 2010 – July 2012

Transport Malta intends to redevelop the Coast Road, namely the stretch from St Paul’s Bay to Pembroke. This section of the Coast Road forms part of Malta’s Trans European Network. Following an in-depth analysis of traffic data, accidents data, and current design of the road Transport Malta are proposing to widen the current road into a dual carriageway, two-lane road so that the final road would consist of four lanes. A number of design options were prepared by the project architects and these were studied in the EIA. The EIA identified those option/s with the least impacts and these were taken forward by Transport Malta as the preferred alternative.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) addressed potential impacts in relation to the following;

• impacts on the geo-environment, through the excavation of 100,000m3,
• impacts on ecology, since the Scheme will impinge on natural habitats and will lead to losses of protected trees,
• visual impacts (although these were not identified as being a major impact),
• loss of agricultural land – approximately 15,000m2,
• impacts on cultural heritage due to the loss of some features from the Scheme and the threat to other features during the construction phase,
• noise and vibration during construction will impact on both people and buildings
• social impacts were assessed through a social assessment which identified and addressed the potential impacts including accessibility and safety issues.

An Appropriate Assessment (AA) was undertaken in order to assess the impacts of the Scheme on the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) at Salina and Ghadira s-Safra. Mitigation measures were recommended as a result of the EIA and AA.

Keywords:  Appropriate Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment, Coast Road