Further to my correspondence on the proposed wind farm at Wied Rini, limits of Bahrija and Mtahleb (TMIS, 14 June), there is still much to be said in order to understand the full extent that such developments might have.

The Wied Rini site has been earmarked as possibly being the best onshore location, purely based on its wind profile.

This in spite of this very site being one of environmental and ecological value, hence its current protection. Not to mention its great popularity as one of the last remaining pockets of scenic countryside.

However, at least another seven such sites have already been identified – mainly along the western flank of the Maltese Islands, as possible sites for future wind farms. If our government is to attain the EU imposed levels of energy production from renewable sources, starting off at 10 per cent by 2020 and thereafter increasing to much greater proportions, it seems inevitable that these sites will also soon be seriously considered for such development. According to MRRA officials, up to 10 per cent of the area of the Maltese Islands is suitable for the installation of wind farms.

We have heard from various sources much technical detail to convince the public that these wind turbines will cause a minimal impact on neighbouring residents and farmers. Many have also greatly disparaged the Bahrija/Mtahleb area as one riddled with hunters, rubbish dumps and disorder to justify its transformation into a wind farm.

This part of our rapidly disappearing countryside is certainly no Eden and it suffers from the same problems that exist throughout all Maltese rural areas. However, it is about as good as it gets from a national countryside perspective and this is what really matters. If even the Bahrija/Mtahleb/Kuncizzjoni area is now considered not worth saving, then by the same argument no other so-called Maltese countryside area is.

We must decide if, rather than continuing to protect these last few remaining rural areas and attempting to eradicate illegal dumping and the like, we should completely abandon all such efforts and embark on the total development of our entire land mass. There is no doubt that this is the direction many of us are pushing for. After we have totally denigrated the Bahrija/Mtahleb area, we will then turn to the next site and then to the next – all of which will be consecutively labelled as “not worth saving” until we would have accomplished the total destruction of this minute nation. With this in mind, I would like to appeal to Mepa to immediately revise its policies with regard to these areas that are no longer considered worth protecting. At the Wied Rini site in particular, along with its environs, no development is currently allowed as this is considered a protected site being a Rural Conservation Area. Residents have not been allowed to build a small extension to an existing building, while others in the vicinity have been the object of a mass public outcry due to the construction of a new villa. All this now becomes a futile exercise, hardly justifiable in what is being classified by some as an area not worth conserving and more so in view of a wind farm, which will take up the space and represent the visibility of a thousand new villas.

Alexander Bonello

BAHRIJA