A 'big' nature park will be declared in the south of the island, Minister for the Environment Jose Herrera has disclosed to The Malta Independent.

In comments to this newspaper at a waste-related event earlier this week, Herrera revealed his plans for the new park, however preferred not to provide more details until it is launched officially.

When asked whether Herrera would view the possibility of Zonqor Point not used by The American University of Malta a bonus, Herrera explained his belief that it is important to regenerate the south, emphasized his effort to create Inwadar national park "to compensate", and noted that the land by the university is already "semi-developed" and that the government has refrained from using up ODZ land for further projects following the last elections.

"I am very cautious and defensive about protection our natural capital," he said. "How am I doing it? By declaring further parks, I am declaring a big park in the south. I won't give the details till I launch it officially," he said.

Turning to the subject of noise pollution, in light of the recent Eurostat report that Malta ranks first in Europe for suffering the most from noise pollution, Herrera revealed that the new noise pollution bill will be ready in the next three month, following which a public consultation process will begin.

"The legislation (by the Commission for Noise Pollution) is almost ready," he said. "It needs a bit of fine-tuning, but hopefully in the next three months, we will be able to launch a public consultation."

When asked which localities suffer the most from noise pollution around the island, Herrera explained that mostly it is places which are commercialized, such as Paceville, as well as streets and areas where there are main roads and highways.

He then added that other factors such as construction, which he labeled a "necessary nuisance", also contributed to the high ranking. 

Construction nuisance

When asked for his comment on construction in relation to Malta's skyrocketing noise pollution, Herrera admitted that more regulation from the side of the government is needed when it comes to construction sites.

"Construction is a huge nuisance, but it is a necessary nuisance," he said. "You cannot stop construction, because population is growing, you need economics of scale and a substantial population so that the country moves ahead, you need to continue to attract more tourists. So construction is a necessary evil."

He then went on to say that although the inconvenience of construction cannot be removed completely, it can be reduced.

"You can never extrapolate the inconvenience, but you can always minimize and make it more serious," he said. "Abroad, where there are construction sites, you have more regulation. In Malta we lack it."

"I am criticizing myself and the government," he said. "Sometimes as a government we are too lax in this, but hopefully what I am doing will target this issue."

A study published earlier this month by Eurostat analysing 'Noise from neighbours or from the street' ranks Malta much higher than the European Union (EU) average, which lies at 17.9 per cent. In 2016, 26.2 per cent of Maltese had a problem with noise within their neighbourhood, ranking first in Europe.

Malta's percentage is even higher than that reported from people living in EU cities. 23.3 per cent reported suffering from noise in cities in the EU, whilst 10.4 per cent reported suffering from noise in rural areas with the EU.