The Regatta Club of Birżebbuġa will have a warehouse for boats and new offices from which to operate in the neighborhood of Birżebbuġa itself. This was announced by the Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima and the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Works Omar Farrugia during the signing of an agreement between the Department for Public Works and the same club.
The building with two floors and a basement will be built on the shore of Birżebbuġa and a few meters away from a slipway so that rowers have easy access to the sea when they launch their boats. The basement and the first floor of the building will be used as a warehouse for boats while the second floor will be used as offices from where the administration will start operating. The building will be built in a place that is currently abandoned and will be equipped with various facilities according to the needs of this club.
Minister Clifton Grima said that this is another agreement that shows the Government’s commitment to help sports associations and unions at every level. He said that, “Our work in this sector goes hand in hand with our vision to strengthen the sports sector to continue raising the level of sport in our country, even at the club level “. He spoke about the help that is being given in the sector both with various schemes that are being given to the associations and clubs so that they strengthen their work in the various respective sports disciplines and also through an agreement such as that of the today. “This agreement shows our commitment to continue to fulfill the electoral sports promises, whose goal is that the sports clubs and federations have the tools and facilities to continue growing,” concluded the the minister.
Parliamentary Secretary Omar Farrugia said that, “When we met with the administration of this club and they brought forward the challenges they are facing, as Government we intervened immediately to ensure that this sports club continues to operate and nurture within it more children and young people in the regatta sport. In fact, apart from various logistical challenges, the biggest challenge for this club is that of fostering new children in this sport since the warehouses that are currently rented are outside the locality. Through this project the children and young people of Birżebbuġa will have an equipped place where they can meet to practice the sport of rowing and at the same time we will keep the tradition of the regatta alive in Birżebbuġa.”
The President of the Regatta Club of Birżebbuġa Ian Farrugia said that this year the club is commemorating the twentieth anniversary of its establishment and during these years it never had its own building and always operated from rented warehouse in Valletta. This causes several challenges both for the administration, for the rowers and especially for the younger generations who are tempted to start this sport. Mr. Farrugia thanked the Government for this project and described it as a dream that will make a big difference for all regatta enthusiasts in Birżebbuġa and other surrounding villages.
