Moreover, an illegal boundary wall around the site has been left in place, it added.

The Save Wied Garnaw Action Group said it would today be expressing its unreserved thanks had MEPA’s action been more thorough. However, MEPA’s partial action raises two serious concerns.

First of all, the field in question has not been restored to its original state and remains an eyesore.

Secondly, MEPA is currently considering an application for the building of a waste sorting plant on this very spot, in a fertile valley which falls outside the development zone.

So one starts to wonder whether this application has in some way influenced MEPA’s decision to allow the illegally dumped material and the boundary wall to remain in place.

This is of particular concern since the Ombudsman has highlighted cases where MEPA did not remove illegalities because it was anticipating their future approval. These are set out in a report presented by the Ombudsman to Parliament in April, and again from his recently published annual report for 2003.

If MEPA was acting in good faith, the group would be glad to receive a written explanation. However, when the Save Wied Garnaw Action Group asked MEPA to explain its omission, MEPA’s chairman (through his PRO) replied that MEPA is not obliged to justify its actions.

Is MEPA not accountable to the public? This question was posed to the Ombudsman’s Office, and the unequivocal reply was that citizens have a sacrosanct right to receive replies to their queries from public authorities.

The Save Wied Garnaw Action Group publicly calls on George Pullicino, the minister responsible for MEPA, to investigate and find out why MEPA has allowed the illegal wall to remain in place and the dumped material and instead simply covered with soil.