The proposal for  ‘crushing on site’ and ‘stock piling’ in an Mqabba quarry will not only be damaging to the environment but also will be detrimental to the physical and mental health of the nearby residents, ADPD, the Green Party, said Saturday.

The institutions that are meant to protect the common citizen are failing to do this. ADPD – The Green Party has always objected to these projects that impact negatively the quality of life of the ordinary citizen, while the operators continue to line their pockets. ADPD – The Green Party spokespersons today addressed a press conference close to the site of the proposed stone crushing activity in Mqabba this morning.

ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that the party  has always objected to projects like these being proposed so close to residential areas because they continue impact negatively the quality of life of the ordinary citizen, while the operators continue to line their pockets.

ADPD – The Green Party has been aware of the inconveniences being caused by this quarry and increasing its activity is definitely not  an option!  When the prevailing wind blowing in the direction of the residences and the school blankets the whole are in dust, one can imagine what this means for the respiratory system of both residents and school children.

Around twenty years ago, the authority responsible for land use planning, MEPA, had published a Minerals Subject Plan for the Maltese Islands. The plan had, in part, focused on the impact such activity leaves on third parties, primary from dust and noise pollution.

Among other things, it states that planning permits will seek to regulate noise impacts through restricting operating hours and the setting of permissible maximum noise levels. The regulation of dust impacts in the said plan recommends considering the direction of prevailing winds and that stock piles are always kept covered.

However this plan seems to have disappeared from the Planning Authority’s website. Moreover, the Environmental Health Directorate has failed to make any submissions on the negative health impacts of noise and dust generated as a result of these operations.

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) on the other hand, lists a number of conditions to be adhered to. However these measures should be an integral part of both an eventual planning permit as well as the standard operational permit issued by ERA itself.

The Department of Education – which is responsible for the Mqabba Primary School which almost borders the quarry in question – and the Mqabba Local Council have so far remained silent. Once again, the institutions that are meant to protect the common citizen from such proposals are failing to do so

Similar operations situated so close to residents and even a school are not to be considered. “It is utterly unacceptable that commercial operators continue to disregard the residents’ plight. The residents’ quality of life should be prioritized in practice, and not just with meaningless words,” concluded Cacopardo.