Steel electricity poles that had been erected illegally in a rural area in Gozo last August were removed on Thursday, The Malta Independent has learnt.

The poles had been erected in Triq Ras il-Bajjada and Triq il-Qsajjam, forming part of an undisturbed stretch of countryside leading from the tranquil village of Munxar to Xlendi cliffs.

The area had been cleared of all wire cabling in the early nineties when Anton Tabone was Gozo Minister.

In fact, Munxar residents who had spoken to this newspaper said they were worried that the reason behind the installation of the electricity poles was the fact that the Gozo Ministry intended to bypass traffic through Munxar while road works on Triq ix-Xlendi – the main road between Fontana and Xlendi – were carried out.

Interestingly however, another probable reason for the installation of the electricity poles was the fact that earlier last year, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) upheld a permit to sanction a pump room and water reservoir in the vicinity of the area under examination.

Michael Bajada, a member on Alternattiva Demokratika’s (AD) Gozo regional committee and a Munxar resident, said he believed that the electricity poles could also have been intended to supply electricity to the owner of the pump room and reservoir.

According to the case details found on the Mepa website, the application for the sanctioning of the pump room and reservoir dated back to March 2004; more than nine months later, the authority’s board had decided to refuse permission.

Reconsidering its decision in March 2006, the board stood by its original decision, but overturned it in February last year.

It later turned out that Enemalta Corporation had put up the electricity poles without the permission of Mepa.

A Mepa enforcement notice was issued on 23 August, following the publication of an article in this newspaper regarding the erection of the poles.

The whole area links up with the Special Protection Area of Sannat Cliffs, Ta’ Cenc and the Xlendi Valley, which Mepa itself declared as a high scheduled area in which no development could take place.

In fact, in the early nineties former the Gozo Minister had ordered the removal of all wire cables from the rural site where the electricity poles were put up. These included telephone wires and cables installed by Melita Cable.