Yesterday was a normal working day for part-time farmer John Camilleri. He walked around the land he farms in Attard, pruning bushes and watering his fruit trees.
His family has been working the fields that lie adjacent to Triq Oliver Agius for generations, but it could all end soon, as a large chunk of the land he tills will soon be taken up by the Central Link project.
“My family has worked this land for 150 years, since the time of my great grandfathers,” he explains.
“This is a hard job and farmers like me do this because we love working the land, but the project will make it impossible for us to work. Instead of being assisted, we are being discouraged from continuing this tradition,” he says.
Photos: Neil Camilleri
Officially, there are 47 farmers who will be affected by the road widening project, which stretches from the Mrieħel bypass up to Saqqaja Hill. But Camilleri says the number is much larger, as authorities are not counting relatives and friends who help out in the fields.
Walking around the land, which is rented from the government, he points out the irrigation ditches that carry table water, the olive, lime, pomegranate and peach trees and the soil fields that will soon make way for tarmac and concrete.
“At first they told us that they would be taking 15 metres of land. Then they said they would be adding a cycling lane, then a footpath. They will also need a place where to keep their machinery and materials. We estimate that we will not be able to work these fields for up to three years,” he says.
Pointing to a row of cypress and fruit trees, he notes that Infrastructure Malta is not counting them among the other 549 trees that will be uprooted. “There are some sixty trees here that will be removed, and other farmers have more.”
Camilleri says that up to a thousand trees located in the fields are also going to be destroyed, and these are not being mentioned in the project description.
Another concern for Camilleri is the fact that the main thoroughfare will run adjacent to his fields. This, he says, will lead to crops and fruits being polluted by vehicle emissions.
“How will I be able to sell my fruit if it is all polluted? Everything here will either be excavated or compromised by vehicle exhaust.”
Camilleri says the authorities have mentioned his fruit trees will be moved to another part of the land he works, but he says this is not a solution because every field is being cultivated with different crops.
“I am a part-time farmer who is close to retirement age. This job is already hard enough and I only do it because it is something that I love. But this is all going to change. I might as well abandon agriculture completely and go to the beach instead,” he says, adding that many other farmers in the area feel the same way. “The entire Maltese agricultural sector will suffer.”
Camilleri has attended several meetings and has never been afraid to voice his concerns. But he is reserved and asks us not to photograph him, explaining that he does not want to make a show of the situation, but is only interested in speaking on behalf of farmers in the area.
He says there is still a lot of confusion surrounding the project plans, and the government has now told farmers that it wants to listen to their concerns. Camilleri, however, does not believe that this will really happen. He mentions that no one has spoken to him about the project up until now. A meeting will be held on Tuesday but Camilleri comments that the permit for the project has already been issued.
He also questions why the idea of boring a tunnel for traffic was deemed unviable when similar projects will be taking place in Pembroke and Santa Luċija. “And why was the proposal to build a raised road connecting the Mrieħel and Żebbuġ bypasses completely ignored?”
“They think they are taking it out on us but in reality the entire country will suffer,” he says.
