Almost 100 years after its construction, and following a long list of broken promises by administration after administration, the government has at long last taken the bull by the horns and has embarked on the process to relocate the fuel depot in Birzebbuga.

Back when it was built in 1919, Birzebbuga was quite a different place than it is today.  Since then, apartment blocks and homes have sprouted up around it and hundreds of families and thousands of people now live in the installation’s direct proximity, and with all the hazards that come with that proximity.

In November 2014 the government announced that the depot would be closed down for good and that the oil and petroleum products currently stored at the Birzebbuga site would be transferred to another facility owned by Enemed, the government company that is now responsible for Enemalta’s Petroleum Division, in Has-Saptan.

The long-awaited announcement was welcomed by Birzebbuga residents, who have long been preoccupied by what is literally a menace, on so many levels, in their backyard.  Apart from the obvious concerns, the fuel depot has caused the seepage of fuel into the bedrock and into the sea across the road – a place where dozens of people and families swim every day every summer.

The welcome move to relocate the depot complements other initiatives the government has taken to de-industrialise the south of the island, which, it must be noted, have mainly been driven by necessity rather than solely the government’s social conscience.

These other steps include the decommissioning of the Marsa Power Station, the closure of Delimara Plant 1 and the upcoming dismantling of its most unsightly chimney, not to mention the use of natural gas for its sister plant.

For decades the residents of Birzebbuga and Marsaxlokk have borne a considerable amount of the brunt of the country’s development in terms of directly suffering the effects of the Freeport, the Delimara power station, the now-closed Qajjenza gas bottling plant, the fuel depot in question and private oil storage facilities in Qajjenza, amongst others.

As such, any move that will in any way, shape of form help to relieve the area of this industrial onus is naturally more than welcome.

This also goes for the move to close down the fuel depot.  The government earlier this year filed applications to change for a change of use for the existing underground storage tanks at Has-Saptan, up the valley from Birzebbuga proper, so that the fuel depot could be transferred there – far from any built-up residential area.

In the process, the government will take something of a financial hit since the underground tanks at Has-Saptan are currently leased out to third parties on short-term contracts. The tanks, according to the government’s plans, will be refurbished and upgraded with modern safety features and they will be exclusively used to store Enemed products.

The government has said that the existing infrastructure will be used for the project, and that, as such, there will not be any environmental issues.  According to the government, the idea is to put residents’ health and environmental considerations first and foremost, and that such considerations trump the revenue that will be lost by foregoing on the storage contracts.

Environmental NGOs, however, are of a different opinion and they have officially objected to the relocation. 

They have insisted that a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment must be carried out at Has-Saptan, arguing that the area is designated as one of High Landscape Value, and that part of its lies within a proposed Area of Ecological Importance and a Site of Scientific Importance as identified in the South Malta Local Plan.

The organisations also argue that although the Has-Saptan site already has a fuel storage infrastructure and most of the existing structures are underground, they have taken exception to the addition of additional above-ground facilities being proposed for the site.

Of course, proper procedures and EIAs must be followed through to the letter for such a project – of this there is no doubt.

But the real irony of the NGOs’ statement on the project is that they have highlighted, with respect to the Has-Saptan area, risks to people’s health in that there could be production of hazardous waste and possible leakage from the fuel storage tanks.

This is, however, exactly what is happening at the antiquated and leaking facility in central Birzebbuga – and in direct proximity to families and homes, which is, after all, the government’s purported reason for transferring the operations out of a residential neighbourhood and out to Has-Saptan, where virtually no one lives.

Moreover, one would imagine that ENGOs would welcome any move to de-industrialise the area.

This is an issue that, for a change, does not pit the environment against a private for-profit venture that is questionably being endorsed by the government. 

It is one that instead pits residents’ health and their immediate environment, which are, also for a change apparently being championed by the government, against environmental considerations in an uninhabited area.

While a full EIA, quite understandably, must be carried out on an operation of this size and nature, environmental NGOs should better consider the big picture and ensure that they do not miss the wood for the trees.