Nature Trust has withdrawn from the Dwejra management committee after a controversial development permit was issued in the area, saying it is "horrified" at the state of affairs but "powerless" to do anything about it.
On April 4, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority approved a development permit for the construction of an 'Interpretation Centre and ancillary facilities including restaurant' in Dwejra.
Mepa defended the permit, saying it was part of a plan agreed by the committee members, including Nature Trust, to build a visitors' centre in the area. But the environmental organisation countered that the need for a visitors' centre had been used as an excuse for the construction of a restaurant in a prime location.
The developer, Godwin Cassar, had already submitted two applications for the restaurant between 1998 and 2000, which were refused. Now, the visitors' centre will be built on his land and include catering facilities.
In a strongly-worded letter addressed to Mepa chairman Austin Walker and Parliamentary Secretary for Environment Mario de Marco, Nature Trust said it was powerless to limit the damage being inflicted on Dwejra because it was a minority on a management board which "had other considerations on its mind quite removed from ecology and heritage".
Nature Trust, the environmental body on the management board, had secured more than €200,000 in EU funds to invest in the site. The government had made two previous attempts to obtain the funds and failed.
In return for the EU funds, Malta promised to implement a list of measures and ensure the long-term management of the site. Nature Trust had led the implementation of the agreed objectives in the EU project, but the NGO claims the government failed to implement its side of the bargain.
"The place is now unmanaged and abandoned," said Nature Trust. Since the completion of the project in 2007, when the NGO's oversight of the project came to an end, the site has been left to deteriorate, the organisation said.
Since 2007, the management board has met on just three occasions. The focus of the meetings was not the upkeep of the site, but the development related to the restaurant/interpretation centre.
The management board consisted of a Mepa-appointed chairman, a representative from the Gozo Ministry, another from the San Lawrenz council and Nature Trust.
Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono personally attended meetings of the management board, and was an active participant in decisions taken.
The only significant decision taken since 2007, however, was the development permit. Meanwhile, a painstakingly constructed rubble wall is crumbling, information boards have been vandalised, restored areas are once again being degraded, there is no management of traffic and parking is permitted on precious fossil remains.
Moreover, the project included the designation of a marine protected area around Dwejra, which to this day has not been legally declared by government in defiance of commitments made to the EU.
A site manager was never appointed - three years after the completion of the project. When The Sunday Times asked Mepa for the reason, the authority said the government had assigned a full-time person to Nature Trust to carry out duties at Dwejra.
But Nature Trust countered that the person was assigned to help the organisation give out information to visitors at Dwejra, together with other wide-ranging duties assigned to the organisation in Malta.
Mepa said: "With the benefit of hindsight, one can question whether the management structure as envisaged in the action plan was conducive to proper site management. This question will be addressed in the management plan that Mepa will be undertaking for Dwejra and other Natura 2000 sites."
Dr de Marco, who inherited the state of affairs when the environment recently became part of his portfolio, said that even before then, action could be taken. He acknowledged that changes needed to be made to the management of Dwejra.
"We need to set up a management structure with a clear mandate... In my view, the area should primarily be managed as an ecological site and therefore the management structure should have a bias towards environmental considerations," Dr de Marco said.
He referred to the agreed action plan, saying "the objectives are as valid today as they were five years ago. It is unfortunate that the plan was not implemented in its entirety."
He acknowledged that the necessary resources needed to be injected for the plan's actions to be achieved. "We must move forward," Dr de Marco said.