A suitcase, a mattress and an enormous amount of litter has accumulated in Dragunara Road in St Julian’s over the last few days. The 5-star hotel area is one of the most used pathways by tourists throughout the year. Yet the supposedly green area has become a dumping site for all kinds of rubbish, including plastic bottles, bags, metal deposits and other, bulkier refuse.
This newspaper is informed that tourists were even commenting on the state of the area and expressed disbelief at how people were using it to dump their unwanted belongings.
The Malta Independent contacted the Mayor of St Julian’s, Guido Dalli, who said he did not know the extent of the latest dumping spree. “I knew about that construction works were leading to problems because I saw it on Facebook but I had not received information about such things as mattresses and suitcases being dumped in the area. There are so many such problems in St Julian’s that it can be hard to keep up with them all”.
(Photos Michael Camilleri)
He explained that the council will immediately clean up an area if it is public ground. “But if it is part of a construction site or on private land, we can’t go and clean it up because its illegal. I will personally go and check the area and if that is the case the council can pressure the owners to clean the site. Usually when we’ve asked, the owner responds positively and the situation is sorted”
When asked about fines or a penalty system in place for people who dump rubbish, Dalli responded that “it is not the council that issues fines. Dumping rubbish is the prerogative of the police. Yet the problem is when someone makes a report and it has to go to court, on many occasions the person who reported will want to remain anonymous and therefore the case is dropped.”
Dalli said he would be addressing the problem. “I will be contacting the council today to find out about the area and what we can do to get the area cleaned up as soon as possible.”
The busy and popular road has seen a large amount of construction work over the past few months, with the rubbish situation increasing with time. The area has five star hotels, English language school accommodation and various bars and restaurants, with St Georges bay on the opposite side, making it a very popular area and a tourist magnet.
The Intercontinental Hotel, is just around the corner and the Paranga restaurant is also on the road in question. When asked, Kevin De Cesare, Managing Director of Eden Leisure group, including the Intercontinental Hotel and Paranga stated: “Whenever I see a situation like this I would call the Malta Tourism Association (MTA) immediately. If this is the case it very disappointing to hear that people are throwing mattresses and rubbish in a tourist area. It’s bad enough the amount of litter here due to the huge amount of people who are in this area, which means we need extra cleaning in the here”
The authorities need to understand that with such an influx of tourists, we need double the amount of cleaning, in which the area needs to be cleaned throughout the day.”
Hugo’s Boutique Hotel faces the dumping site. Hugo Chetcuti, owner of Hugo’s Boutique Hotel, commented: “The issue of rubbish and cleanliness has always been a problem in Paceville. I personally am going to try and decrease this by moving the skips on Dargunara Road, so that when the skips overflow people don’t continue throwing rubbish everywhere because they can.
We clean the area near the hotel and bars etc as much as possible so it is disappointing to see such rubbish around. Paceville needs to be kept at high standard of cleanness because it’s not attractive for tourists to see it in this state.”
To make matters worse, earlier this week another road in Paceville was left a right mess. A video appeared online, of a truck driving through Triq il-Knisja, while brown mud spewed all over the road. This road is also a principal area of St Julian’s, where the Hilton Hotel as well as various restaurants, bars and supermarkets are found.
A Malta Tourism Authority spokesperson said: "We are informed that the area in question is privately owned, and as such, MTA does not have the right to intervene directly. However, MTA has brought the matter to the attention of the pertinent authorities so that the necessary action is taken without delay. In fact the boundaries of the private land have already been cleaned up by the Cleansing Department. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that early morning cleansing is being carried out daily in Paceville and other tourism zones throughout summer."