On 28 June 2012, Harisen Patrimonju Mosti (HPM) submitted the largest environmental petition in Malta’s history to the highest authorities of the state in order to save Wied il-Ghasel from a massive development on its protected ridge. No action has yet been taken to honour the will and request of over 24,400 people.
The last legal step in Nature Trust’s and HPM’s joint appeal, a court decision due in spring was never made since the judge concerned had resigned and eventually died! No word of when the case shall be rescheduled for a second hearing. This despite an investment of nearly €1,000 in legal fees and work on site still being permitted regardless of all!
Work is now commencing before 6am, with reports to the police by disturbed residents being ignored, despite laws stating that noisy construction work is not allowed to start before 7am.
Plenty of evidence was presented to Mepa and other relevant authorities illustrating several breaches of permit conditions, but no concrete action has been taken to curb such abuses.
According to the permit, the site perimeter screening should be resilient and able to resist up to Force 8 winds and kept in optimum condition throughout as to satisfy its purpose and function. The persistent bad state of this hoarding shows that it was never constructed to withstand anything close to force 8 winds, and far less was it ever repaired unless due pressure was exerted.
The law and permit conditions clearly stipulate that development notices should be affixed in a specific area and be visible and legible throughout the construction phase. The current location of the notices is in contravention to established regulations and all the work done in the past months has therefore been carried out in breach of this point of law. This is not the first time that the notices were found to be missing or in the wrong place.
The enforcement directorate’s stance concerning this permit notices issue being merely justification for why the permits are not in the place they should be, rather than what legal action is being taken for a proven breach of law.
With reference to Plan 35 of PA 0556/05 of October, 2009, taken from Mepa’s website, work was to be kept at a 0.75 metres boundary from a protected rubble wall which should have remained completely untouched. This too was ignored!
The developers also destroyed / tampered (with) the said protected rubble wall/s. The wall has also been defaced with markings in red paint despite it being protected. Another part of this rubble wall was also destroyed, (closer to the bridge). This should have been retained and untouched. HPM would like to urge the government and authorities concerned to intervene and end this abuse once and for all. Over 24,400 people are still waiting for justice and democracy to prevail!
Chev. Jonathan Paul Cuschieri,
Secretary
Harsien Patrimonju Mosti
www.it-tarka.com