Partit Demokratiku noted today that the action taken by the Environment Resource Authority to halt works by a Stop and Compliance Order issued to a Transport Malta’s contractor at Wied l-Isqof, limits of Haz-Zebbug and Rabat has again lessened its credibility. Things should have been done properly right from the start.

“EU funds earmarked for the surfacing of rural roads are being used to surface valley banks and country roads. Our biodiversity is under threat. This has also been witnessed in Wied is-Sewda limits of Qormi. It seems that TM is bulldozing  its works without consulting ERA or the latter is not monitoring the works executed by TM. It is the public’s outcry of environmentalists that is stopping the further rape of our valleys,” stated MEP candidate Martin Cauchi Inglott.

“The natural habitat of our water ways is being systematically destroyed on the false premise that country roads are being made more accessible to farmers. In certain areas, valley beds are being reduced and trees are being uprooted to widen the adjacent valley roads,” stated MEP candidate Camilla Appelgren.

“This is ridiculous. To add insult to injury, the surfacing used is not  porous. Rainwater does not permeate through and in some places there is no proper water run off. Ideally such valley roads should be surfaced in such a way as to leave a middle stretch of unsurfaced earth that runs parallel to the track used by vehicles, which, in turn, should be flanked by a bare kerb at the sides of the road,” stated MEP candidate Dr Anthony Buttigieg.

TM is failing us and ERA seems toothless. ERA is jeopardising its own mission statement and is not protecting the spirit of our Constitution. Our natural habitat needs to be nurtured and  supported by the right actions in its favour.