A revised plan for the controversial road-widening project between Victoria and Marsalforn will uproot 183 trees, according to the Gozo Ministry.
Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri announced earlier this week in parliament that his ministry had reached a compromise with environmental NGOs and even thanked Din l-Art Ħelwa (DLĦ) for its collaboration.
However, DLĦ said that while an agreement had been reached “in principle”, it was still awaiting confirmation of the total number of trees affected.
On Friday, the ministry informed DLĦ about the latest figures, which the NGO criticised as "unacceptable". In a social media post, the group said, “the proposal still includes the alarming removal of a significant number of trees, down from 195 to an unacceptable 183.”
This reduction still exceeds the original estimate of 177.
DLĦ president Patrick Calleja expressed further frustration, saying the revised plans did not reflect the spirit of previous discussions.
Speaking to Times of Malta, he said the ministry "cannot be trusted".
"Uprooting nearly all the trees they had originally earmarked for uprooting is not in the spirit of what we had said at all.”
The Gozo Ministry defended the revised plans, pointing out that about 79% of the trees to be removed are invasive or alien species, including Nerium oleander, Ricinus communis, Acacia, and Eucalyptus. It also highlighted plans to plant over 300 indigenous trees as part of new landscaped areas along the route.
Other project changes include relocating most of the proposed cycling lanes to rural passageways. Only a short section of the cycling lanes will remain along the road.
The ministry said this adjustment would allow for converting 2,564 square metres of land into a hard shoulder, a safe space where drivers can pull over. The rest remains part of the surrounding agricultural field, resulting in a reduction of expropriated area by 881 square metres, said the ministry.
Additionally, the ministry also said that 500 square metres of asphalt will be transformed into landscaped areas. The road will remain with one lane in each direction.
However, DLĦ argued that the removal of the proposed cycling lane, which was to be 1.5 metres wide over a 3.5-kilometre stretch, should have resulted in a reduction of at least 5,000 square meters of land take-up.
The NGO also noted that cycling group ROTA, which wanted to propose an alternative mobility route, was unable to do so as a digital file needed to plot this alternative was never provided by the ministry.
The total amount of agricultural land impacted by the project is still to be confirmed.