A group of landowners, farmers, and residents from Luqa have written to the Prime Minister in a last ditch effort to protest against the widening of a main thoroughfare into agricultural land.

The group is opposing a road widening project at Triq il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa, called Node WA 23, which is set to be heard on 11 June. 

The project, they said, will see a significant loss of agricultural land across the 300 metre stretch of road.

“The pretext for this widening exercise is the construction of an underpass in the Qormi direction, as well as the creation of a bicycle lane which starts from nowhere and leads to nowhere”, the group said in a statement.

“The existing road, which was widened just 10 years ago, sees no significant traffic flow in the Qormi direction. Thus this damaging project, which will continue to destroy one of Luqa's last green lungs is one with no rationale”, they added.

They said that having seen that Infrastructure Malta has no intention of altering the project to a more sensitive one, they had decided to write a letter to the Prime Minister to share their concerns.

The letter, sent on 14 May, however, was ignored and not even an acknowledgement was received, the group said.

Announced last year, the proposal will see the roundabout connecting Qormi, Marsa, Luqa and Gudja replaced by a 220-metre flyover and underpass, while an underpass connecting the Qormi and Marsa directions will flow right under the flyover and the current roundabout.

In their letter, the group raised doubts over the need for the road widening in the first, and also shared concern over the expropriation process for them to be compensated for their land.

“Some of the signatories of this letter have had land taken away from them in the past, and we’re very concerned at how expropriations are taking place, particularly in light of media reports that some landowners are still awaiting compensation for the land they lost over the years,” they said.

“Some of us have yet to receive anything for the land that was taken from us when Triq il-Kunsill tal-Ewropa was rebuilt.”

The residents said their meetings with Infrastructure Malta made it clear that “the person in charge of the agency”, presumably a reference to CEO Fredrick Azzopardi, made it clear that the project will go ahead as they please.

“This is despite the fact that the land is ours and we haven’t given anyone permission to enter it. They didn’t give us any indication of the compensation we’ll receive, such as land somewhere else.” 

They said Infrastructure Malta officials tried to justifying the development by pointing out that it will include the installation of bike lanes, but countered that there’s always been space for bike lanes along the current road.

“We are therefore asking you, in the spirit of good faith, to immediately intervene in this issue and defend our interests as citizens and voters”, the group told the Prime Minister.

“We hope we receive a response from you, seeing as all the doors we’ve knocked on – from the Planning Authority to Infrastructure Malta – have been closed.”

No reply, however, has been forthcoming.