CF120: National Flood Relief Project (NFRP)

The NFRP involved the construction of a network of underground tunnels, canals and bridges, to provide a better storm water drainage infrastructure for the worst-hit areas which will be capable of handling a storm up to a return period of 5-years.

The National Flood Relief Project (NFRP) aims to target the flooding problem in Malta and involves the construction of a network of underground tunnels, canals and bridges, to provide a better storm water drainage infrastructure for the worst-hit areas.

By the year 2015, the NFRP aims to substantially improve the physical storm water infrastructural shortcomings and will provide better preparedness and would mitigate against the likely impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable areas in eleven localities in four different basins.
By the year 2015, the NFRP would also have strengthened the organisational basis for a more integrated storm and valley management approach, as specified in the objectives of the NFRP and the Water Policy for the Maltese Islands.

Flash flood events in Malta involve directly and indirectly all economic, productive and life sectors of the Maltese Island. In general, even if the problem is more acute in certain areas of the island such as the Birkirkara, Msida, Gzira, Marsa and Marsascala catchment areas, the effects spread on all surrounding country engaging indirectly almost all Maltese population (circa. 410,000 residents).The NFRP tackles four different catchments namely the Birkirkara-Msida, Gzira, Qormi-Marsa and Marsascala basins, wherein are found the nine worst-hit localities, namely Msida, Birkirkara, Balzan, Gzira, Qormi, Marsa, Zebbug, Marsascala and Zabbar. These areas are identified among the top priority areas in the Storm Water Master Plan and also represent the areas where the majority of damages occurred in the last major storm that hit the Maltese Islands in September 2003. The NFRP will address flooding problems holistically at a catchment level, and also regionally by managing runoff across catchments. The proposals go beyond the local-problem focus; they address the interconnections between problems in different localities and also seek to connect drainage solutions of adjacent basins together, to achieve greater cost-effectiveness and hydraulic efficiency, while also optimising the scope for future water conservation. The NFRP also addresses the institutional dimension of the problem by including measures to strengthen the existing planning, management and maintenance responsibilities into an identifiable and more formal organisation. It is envisaged that through the implementation of the NFRP a turning point will be brought about in storm water management in the Maltese Islands, at the functional infrastructure level and in the operation and maintenance of the new system.