In a 450-strong petition delivered to Gozo Bishop Mario Grech yesterday, the Nadur Farmers’ Cooperative called on the Nadur parish church to reconsider its intentions to build an estimated 600-grave cemetery just above fertile farmland.

The site in question commands majestic, sweeping valley views leading down to Ramla Bay, valuable real estate that should also command similarly majestic fees for its plots with heavenly views for eternity.

The Nadur farmers are seriously concerned that their farmland, with citrus groves counting some 5,000 trees with an estimated annual yield of 150 tonnes, is at risk of contamination should the Nadur parish’s plans for an ultra-modern cemetery come to fruition.

The agriculturally-rich farm and orchard land rising above Ramla Bay is fed by a natural spring, which will now pass through the ground of the planned cemetery before making its way to the farmers’ wells and reservoirs.

The health risks of run-off water from a cemetery holding 600 graves, with an estimated overall population of 1,700 corpses, are numerous, not least of which is the fact that such water will eventually end up in one of Gozo’s most popular swimming spot – Ramla l-Hamra.

Nadur Farmers’ Coopera-tive president Martin Camilleri, who delivered the petition to the Gozo Curia yesterday, asked, “Apart from that, who would want to eat fruit grown with water contaminated by 1,700 decomposing corpses?”

The existing Nadur cemetery, built in the 1930s, had led to a similar contamination of the surrounding land, Mr Camilleri explained, adding, “They should have learned.”

Farmers also expressed incredulity at the fact that a previously proposed site in Nadur had been turned down by MEPA because of concern over potential contamination of a nearby borehole and questioned why the farmland in the direct line of cemetery would not be similarly contaminated.

Farmers are incensed that MEPA had never spoken or consulted with them when assessing the parish’s application, as well as the fact that it has not carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment, apparently being content with reports drawn up by the Malta Resources Authority and the Department of Agriculture.

Farmers speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday fear the land their families have tilled for literally hundreds of years may now become contaminated by run off water from the cemetery.

The cemetery, they say, will contaminate the potable spring water, which runs through irrigation ducts built by the Knights of the Order of St John.

They remain, however, unconvinced by redrafted plans approved by MEPA, which apparently safeguard the water quality. They are also sceptical over plans to waterproof the cemetery by means of a 100 metre concrete bed, insisting that concrete inevitably cracks if not at first, then eventually.

The farmers also contend there had previously been plenty of room for expansion at the existing Nadur cemetery, before the parish developed adjacent land into stores where festa ornaments are kept, and a number of garages which it has sold.

As for the present site, which lies outside the development zone, the Nadur parish through Archpriest Saviour Muscat had originally applied for 1,000 graves, then 700 – both of which were denied by MEPA, which eventually settled for the 600 figure.

Full development permission has now been granted and work at the site, in Ghajn Qasab Street on the road down to Ramla Bay, is expected to begin in the near future.

Although 25 per cent of the 600 graves would be allocated as common graves, which yield no revenue, the remaining graves for sale, with conservative estimates of Lm1,000 per grave, will undoubtedly bring in a good deal of revenue for the parish coffers.

Observers insist that people from other villages will be clamouring for the graves with heavenly scenery, with the inevitable supply and demand market rules jacking prices higher and higher.

The petitioners called on the Church to “lead by example in safeguarding the environment and Gozo’s natural patrimony, and not look to merely raise money from a project such as this”.

They also urged the “Catholic Church to set an example to those who exploit the countryside of Malta and Gozo for speculation and other nonsensical development”.