Wied Ghollieqa, a nature reserve, scheduled area and a Special Area of Conservation of National Importance remains in a neglected state in spite of pleas for repair works, Nature Trust (Malta) said.

The Works Department had damaged a dam at this protected site through works it was carrying out within the site without the necessary permit of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, it pointed out. It said that since then, this broken dam has been left in a disastrous state. Despite various reminders to Mepa by the site managers at NTM, only a few meetings were held on site between Mepa and the department and to date the dam remains in the same pitiful state.

Nature Trust said it had been asking for the repair of the dam for the last two years. This repair is essential both for environmental reasons and social reasons. There is the further danger that during heavy rainfalls, water flowing in this valley from the direction of the hospital will now flow at a fast rate into Sliema Road. The state of the dam is now such that a heavy rainfall can break it all up, causing irreparable damage to the environment of Wied Ghollieqa.

To make matters worse, NTM said, six months ago works by a contractor for the Waste Water Department in the buffer area on the side of Kappara left a lot of rubble in the area. Again NTM reported the case to Mepa and to date, the situation has not changed.