St Paul’s Bay mayor Mario Salerno yesterday insisted that the decision to dump dredged material in the sea was taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, even though in its original plans the council wanted to dump the material on land. The council’s intention was to filter the dredged material and use the by-product, supposedly sand, to compensate for sand erosion in various sites in the locality.

However, Mr Salerno claimed that Mepa objected to this plan, on the ground that this would have an adverse biological impact on the marine environment. He added that this objection is far from convincing, raising doubts that there might have been ulterior motives behind Mepa’s stance.

In reply to these remarks, Mepa denied the claims stating once again that it never gave any form of authorisation for the council to dump the sand and other objects removed from a nearby slipway in Qawra into the sea. It reiterated that the council took this decision on its own initiative.

According to Mepa, on 1 August it had informed the council that it had no objection for the dredging works to be carried out, provided that the council would notify it about the maximum volume of sand which would be removed. It added that the council failed to provide the information, which was intended to guide Mepa “in assessing the best way forward regarding the dumping or deposition activity”.

Mepa said that rather than organising a news conference to try to justify its actions and shift the blame, the St Paul’s Bay local council should have taken the honourable way and issue a public apology for its decision.

The St Paul’s Bay mayor was addressing the media in Qawra where dredging works are being carried out to make an unused slipway accessible once again following various complaints lodged in recent years by boat owners. Works started on Monday but were later halted by Mepa following complaints that the dredged material was being dumped in a swimming zone less than 100 metres away.

Bathers, residents as well as bar owners were up in arms since the dredged material quickly transformed the whole area into a sea of murky water. Following this public outcry, Mepa yesterday decided that the dredged material will be temporarily dumped at a nearby location, so that works could resume.

According to the mayor, the council had expressed its reservations to dump the material back into the sea from the very beginning. He added that the dredged material would have ended up back on the slipway following the first storm. Mr Salerno claimed that Mepa had only indicated two particular sites close to each other, in which this operation could be carried out.

Asked by The Malta Independent to identify who was responsible for the final decision to dump the material in the heart of a swimming zone, the mayor kept insisting that the council had followed Mepa’s orders to dump it in the sea. However, it later transpired that the acting secretary of the council, George Abdilla, who was also present during the news conference, had verbally informed Mepa about the decision of the site chosen for this purpose since this was deemed to be the best one among those allegedly indicated by the authority. Among the reasons cited was the fact that it was easily accessible for the trucks loaded with material. Mr Abdilla claimed that Mepa had given its consent verbally, but admitted that he was not in a position to substantiate his claim since this was not done in writing.

Mr Salerno denied Mepa’s claims, that the council had not informed it that works were due to start. He backed his argument by producing an email sent on Wednesday, 22 August, in which Mepa was informed that works were commencing the following day. He remarked that this email apparently went unnoticed, adding that at the end of the day it was not the council’s duty to ensure that Mepa was monitoring the works.

He then proceeded to explain that following a request from Mepa, a mission statement was drafted by a marine engineer on behalf of the boat owners keen to have the slipway accessible once again. Mr Salerno heaped praise on this initiative, claiming that every detail had been taken care of.