Labour MP Leo Brincat, party spokesman on the environment, said the government’s weak reply to a PL news conference had failed miserably to answer several issues.

Why had the Prime Minister taken 20 months to answer a clear cut parliamentary question, and did so vaguely without addressing the issues put? Mr Brincat asked. Why is the Mepa still in the process of identifying which industries generate substantial amounts of dangerous waste, without giving any idea about when the exercise will be completed?

What had led to the heavy content of metal in the Marsa incinerator fly ash? Why did the government not confirm or deny that the sludge to be created by the power station extension will be subject to the permits which should control plants emissions? Why did the Prime Minister again fail to say what legal action is to be taken against the contractor responsible for allowing fly ash to escape in the south of Malta?

And it was sad to note, Mr Brincat said, that the government has not explained why, in spite of the urgency with which a resolution was presented in parliament to set up a parliamentary committee about the black dust problem, the government has still not done anything for this committee to be appointed, or present the resolution itself on parliament’s agenda for the coming weeks.