Updated 2.40pm with tender details
A planning tribunal has shot down an NGO’s appeal against plans to widen an arterial road in Gozo, which will result in the destruction of agricultural and ODZ land and uprooting over 300 trees.
The proposed project (PA/03000/19) includes the widening of the arterial road between Victoria and Marsalforn and the development of another road, which will serve to bypass traffic away from Victoria’s centre.
The Gozo Ministry previously said the decision to widen the road was taken to eliminate dangerous bends and introduce walkways and a cycle lane.
Despite hundreds strongly objecting to the project, a permit was granted by the Planning Authority in 2021.
Objectors and NGOs said that it will eat into roughly 11,000 square metres of arable land and disrupt Gozo’s biggest watercourse, il-Wied ta’ Marsalforn.
End of the road
The environment and heritage NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) slammed the plans and appealed against the planning permit.
Yet, after appealing for two years, earlier last week, the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) voted against the appeal.
The tribunal rejected the appeal and confirmed the project’s permit in its entirety.
“We are disgusted that the tribunal could rule in favour of the application,” FAA coordinator Astrid Vella told Times of Malta.
“An application of the Gozo Ministry for a project that submitted false information and has no justification other than enriching a road contractor who already was awarded the tender before the permit was even issued.”
Tender for Portelli
The Gozo Ministry awarded the €9 million tender to GP Gozo Consortium in 2020.
In answer to a parliamentary question later that year, Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri said the consortium was made up of Gatt Tarac Ltd and Prax Concrete Ltd, which is a company owned by developer Joseph Portelli, and his associates, Daniel Refalo and Mark Agius.
In a 13-page decision, the tribunal, headed by chairperson Joseph Borg, said out of the 305 trees and shrubs which will be uprooted, 98 will be transplanted within the application site.
“The rest of the trees are either not transplantable or not considered favourable for transplanting in view of their invasive/alien nature,” the decision read.
The report states that another 168 new indigenous species will be transplanted, with a minimum height of three metres.
But Vella said the ERA report managed to overlook 38 protected trees found in the valley.
“Planting saplings is no compensation for the benefit of decades-old mature trees, which reduce pollutants and create a habitat for local fauna,” she said.
The final decision of the tribunal stated that while the project will take up agricultural land, its impact falls within the scope of improving the national transport strategy.
The decision states that the impact on agriculture and biodiversity is not a “significant one” which should take precedence over the goals of the project, which is to promote sustainable transport and remove traffic congestion.
Vella said the road does not suffer from traffic congestion, and that was highlighted in a previous report by the PA.
“Previous reports highlight that traffic congestion is not present except for occasional congestion and that it is a very rare occasion.”
She said the project will destroy one of Gozo’s beautiful and iconic valleys and continue the “ruinification” of Malta's sister island.
'Invite speed'
NGO Rota called the tribunal's decision an "atrocity" and said there are other measures to make the road safer, more pleasant and greener.
The NGO disagreed with labelling the road to Marsalforn as "very unsafe for non-motorised transportation" and said while there is a need for good resurfacing and adequate lighting, widening it will make it unsafe.
"The straighter design will invite for more speed and create unnecessary conflict," it said.
"Most bicycle users are likely to simply ignore the facility due to its futility, inefficiency and wrong sense of safety involved in jolting in and out of the road several times in one stretch of road."
It proposed that the road should be redesigned into a "living street" with traffic calming measures that enforce a lower speed limit by design.
The NGO also called for the trees to remain, and should be increased by "ten-fold" to make the road more enjoyable.
"The need for speed on a tiny island like Gozo should not come before the quality of life and common sense," the NGO said.