An enforcement notice issued by the Planning Authority directly contradicts the statement issued on Wednesday by the same authority, which had said that there was no evidence of Turkish construction workers sleeping in a quarry in Mqabba.

In the statement, the PA said that, following an inspection at the site, “it resulted that there was no evidence that any persons were living there at any time.” 

But the enforcement notice states the cause of infringement as being the “change of use from approved offices to residential unit, change of use of part of the quarry to an open storage yard not related to the quarrying operations, placing of containers and erection of a tented structure on top of the containers without permit.”

One of the contraveners in the “interested parties” section of the enforcement notice also includes “the occupiers.”

The Planning Authority statement on Wednesday followed a story by the Times of Malta which said that hundreds of Turkish construction workers, which were recently flown to Malta to work on construction projects, are expected to start living in this quarry, which is being turned into a sleeping compound. According to reports, many workers are living in sub-standard conditions and are earning a minimum wage.

The authority said, in the statement, that it had inspected the mentioned quarry and noted that a tent was pitched illegally in the quarry. The PA has issued an enforcement notice and the structure will be removed. 

The owners of the quarry also noted that the tent was intended to be used as office premises and not for residential purposes, the statement read.