[WATCH] Dalli defends €10m allocation for €700m urban greening plan: 'It will kickstart investment'

The government may have earmarked only €10 million next year for its €700 million urban greening plan but Environment Minister Miriam Dalli believes this will help attract further investment.

She refuted the suggestion that next year's allocation represents a slow start to the grand plan that includes shifting some main roads underground to create public open spaces above them.

Dalli said on Wednesday that the €10 million would kickstart investment, while government will also offer the private sector an opportunity to invest in these projects.

She was speaking to reporters after announcing the completion of works in L-Andrijiet, Rabat, to upgrade public utility services in the area.

Dalli told journalists how the initial investment allocated for next year, together with EU funds, “will ensure the uninterrupted completion of projects announced in the past weeks or months.”

During his Budget speech, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced the setting up of a new agency aimed at implementing the Labour Party’s electoral pledge to allocate €700 million to urban greening projects over seven years.

Planned to be set up in the next year, the agency’s first project will be the conversion of the Sant Antnin recycling plant in Marsaskala into an open space to complement the existing family park. 

The agency will also foresee other environmental promises by the Labour Party including the first phase of the urban greening project in Bormla, Birżebbuġa, Ħamrun, Marsa, Siġġiewi and San Ġwann.

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