Budget 2022: Marsascala promised woodland ‘bigger than Buskett’

Marsascala is set to get a woodland “bigger than Buskett” as Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced a large afforestation project for the Inwadar national park in his budget speech.

It signals the government has backed a proposal by a group of architects and civil engineers for over 40,000 indigenous trees in the park, which takes up 315,000 square metres of land between Żonqor Point in Marsascala and Xgħajra.

Some €20 million will be invested over a period of five years to bring the project to life and manage water sources as well as safeguard the surrounding biodiversity.

Launched at the end of September, the ‘Help Malta Breathe’ project proposed increasing the number of trees on site by forty-fold, with a planned irrigation system that would draw water from the nearby Ta Barkat sewage treatment plant.

Nicholas Mallia, one of the architects behind the project, told Times of Malta he was inspired to act due to his frustration at the lack of attention being given to safeguard the environment.

The proposal may serve as a balm to the residents of Marsascala, whose open rural spaces have been cast under the shadow of construction projects in recent years, such as the relocation...