From Mr I. Borg

I am writing in reply to Lisa Galea’s letter titled “The failings of the Dingli local council” (TMIS, 1 April).

I would like to state the following facts in chronological order:

The council had a tender for door-to-door and commercial waste that was due to expire on 31 March.

The council had discussed the requirements and the service provided this tender and unanimously agreed to issue this tender again with several amendments, which, the council felt, would be of benefit to Dingli residents as it offered a much better quality service with this new door to door tender.

As a complete service of door to door waste collection was not available to everyone in the locality until a few years ago, I’m informed that the council of those days had introduced small green skips for certain residents to dispose of their domestic waste in them.

This council has now decided to offer this improved door-to-door service to all residents and has even added a clause in the new tender that where the collection vehicle does not have access because of the narrowness of the street, the contractor is obliged to enter the street on foot and remove the waste. This includes the street mentioned in Ms Galea’s letter.

In some areas on the outskirts of Dingli, the council had provided these residents with mini-skips, which the council paid for and, by special arrangements with the contractor, the refuse was collected when necessary, and at least twice a week.

Over the past few years, several irresponsible people have abused this service by dumping practically everything in these green skips including the carcasses of farm animals i.e. goats, sheep, rabbits and also pigs.

The council also offers a free bulk refuse service to residents once a week and, if the need arises, more frequently.

In order to have a clean environment, the council has two employees who, on a daily basis and even sometimes on Sundays and public holidays, sweep all the roads in Dingli and also clear all the domestic waste some residents leave outside after the collection of the door-to-door service has taken place.

One must appreciate that the council gives all these services with the limited funds it is allocated by the Central Government and, with great disappointment, we note that this year the Central Government has decreased the council’s allocation by Lm3,000.

Before introducing this new door-to-door waste collection service to all residents, which started last Sunday (1 April), the council informed all the residents by letter of the changes that will be taking place to enable them to have a better service.

One must note that the door-to-door waste collection is being done also on Sundays and public holidays.

The Dingli local council has also arranged with Waste Serve for it to allocate to Dingli local council two sets of bring-in sites to be delivered before 1st April and not, as falsely alleged by Ms Galea, that we will be removing the ones we already have.

I would have thought that Ms Galea could at least have had the decency to let some time elapse to see how this new service would affect her and the Dingli residents. It seems that some people are resistant to any change!

I am not waiting for the elections to come to send pre-electoral publications to boast about the council’s work. May I remind Ms Galea that during this legislation the council started to issue a quarterly eight- page newsletter, distributed to all residents, in which the council informs them of all the issues and progress that the council makes from time to time.

Furthermore, if an issue or a complaint arises in a certain area, I always tackle it promptly. Afterwards, a reply is sent to all residents in a letter and I even encourage all residents to contact me on my personal mobile, which for their convenience is operational 24 hours a day.

I do not need an election to go knocking on doors, as I do so whenever needed in order to keep in touch with the requirements of the Dingli residents. Regarding the council’s ability to offer an adequate service, I invite Ms Lisa Galea to come to the council or write to the ADT to see whether the Dingli local council has tackled the complaints of the residents in St Mary Street, as she mentioned that the council has not addressed this issue.

Besides that, I also invite Ms Galea to call at my office so that I can show her all the letters of complaint the council wrote to the enforcement forces to supervise the illegal dumping and misuse of the green skips.

Finally, I would like to thank the deputy mayor and all the other councillors, who unanimously agreed to the proposed changes, and the absolute majority of Dingli residents who are in favour of such changes.

Ian Borg

Mayor

DINGLI