L-R Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco and Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs George Pullicino

New ladders and furniture for bays

The Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs George Pullicino together with Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco visited the maintenance and embellishment works being done in Sliema.

Minister Pullicino stated that as of March this year the Beach Cleaning Unit became the responsibility of his Ministry in order to be more streamlined and effective in operation. There are 60 members of staff in this section, who clean our beaches both manually and mechanically; since March 2009 till today 5,720 tonnes of seaweed have been cleared from the beaches. He stated that there are plans for 200 sets of wheelie bins to be distributed around the bays, offering waste separated disposal.

In addition, since his Ministry has been given this responsibility a process of changing and upgrading of the ladders at various beaches has been initiated. The ladders are of a better and safer kind, being less steep and with wooden steps, to help avoid injuries and making their use far more comfortable and accessible. In all around 140 ladders are being painted or changed, as well as 50 railings, mainly in the areas of Marsascala, Sliema and St Paul’s Bay.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Dr Mario De Marco, said that once again the government is taking concrete initiatives to improve the beach infrastructure, be it through embellishment or cleaning. These projects are undertaken first and foremost for the Maltese who use the bays and beaches and also for the tourists who visit our Islands in the summer to relax.

De de Marco concluded by saying that “we are also working on a project to improve two coastal zones in particular – that in Qawra and Fond Ghadir in Sliema. These are being done through almost 4 million euro from European Funds. The main aim is to continue improving our product offer for tourists by intervening in areas where the concentration of tourists is high, but also so that the Maltese can benefit too. There have already been some calls to tender and we hope that works will start after summer”.