Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Silvio Parnis told The Malta Independent that the Paola Square project, which has been at the heart of controversy for the past couple of days, will have more trees planted by the end of the project, than were situated there prior to it.

A social media post by Arnold Cassola had showed the dramatic change with before and after photos of said square, given that the trees were removed, causing public outrage on social media.

Asked by this newsroom whether he believes the design of the square is good, after seeing the before and after images, he said: “We created a project that will help the environment in our locality. Why am I saying this, because we wanted to look at both the environment and the residents, and create a square for the people.”

He stressed that they followed discussions by environmentalists, with FAA, as to how they could do this, and said that together with FAA they “saw how this project can be one that helps the environment, by uprooting the trees at a time when they are supposed to be taken off.

“We were criticised for this, as instead of uprooting them all at once, we were told to remove half first and the other half later, due to the ecology.”

He said the trees were replanted elsewhere and all lived. He said new trees were planted, and that while they look small, they will flourish and grow within two years.

He said that the project reduced the number of cars in the square, thus reducing emissions.

Asked whether government will be planting more trees, or at least the equal amount of trees, to the amount that used to be in the square, he said they increased the number of trees, and that in the coming days, they will plant more trees in front of the health centre, where planters are currently being installed.

The reason they are not replanting the previous trees there, he explained, was so as not to cause more trauma to the trees by uprooting them again, which would risk those trees dying. He said that the trees as they were before were causing damage to surrounding buildings, and thus indigenous trees are being planted.

He also said bushes will be planted in the coming days, and said that for him, the environment is a priority.

Parnis was not the only one to react to the criticism of the project.

Paola Square architect Christopher Mintoff said that it would have been cheaper to leave the Paola Square trees in their place but it was not feasible to do so.