Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi said this morning that an area in St Julian’s that had been highlighted by The Malta Independent for rubbish that had accumulated has been cleaned up, but photos taken this afternoon show otherwise.

Addressing a parliamentary session on the Malta Tourism Authority estimates, the minister pointed out that after the report appeared in TMID, he had been informed that the area in question, close to St George’s Bay, had been cleaned up.

“Let me be clear, this was completely cleaned by the cleansing department,” he said. The minister pointed out that the clean-up had been carried out yesterday (Monday, before the story was printed and uploaded online) after The Malta Independent had contacted the Malta Tourism Authority for comments.

But this is far from being the case, as photos taken this afternoon (above) show.

The suitcase and mattress which were pictured yesterday were not there, but other rubbish material was still very visible. General litter including plastic, metal deposits, iron mesh (xorok) and other construction material still remains.

The Minister emphasised that this area was private land, which is still however an eyesore right in the middle of a tourist hotspot.

MP Edwin Vassallo had earlier highlighted The Malta Independent report, emphasising that attention was needed to clean up such areas. 

The story that was published in TMID and online this morning can be found here.