From green fields to an illegal parking lot for Fahrenheit trucks in 26 years

A sprawling 20-tumoli tract of land outside the development zone in Attard has been illegally transformed into a giant parking lot for trailers and commercial equipment, despite a Planning Authority enforcement notice issued over a decade ago.

The land, which is in an area close to Ta’ Qali known as ‘Tal-Karri’, was once agricultural land but is now filled with massive trailers – some of them apparently out of use – and other commercial and industrial equipment.

Aerial imagery from the PA’s website starkly illustrates the extent to which the harmful activity has changed the face of the fields. Photos from 1998 show a lush, green field, but recent images reveal a desolate, industrial type landscape.

The site is vast – so big that the Ta’ Qali national football pitch, just a kilometre away, would fit inside it more than twice over.

Over the years, the soil was removed, several rubble walls demolished, and the site is now covered with trailers and refrigerated containers.

The land belongs to the owners of Famalco and trailer company Fahrenheit Logistics Ltd.

The illegal operation has been a source of distress for neighbouring residents and farmers working the surrounding fields. The refrigerated trailers emit an incessant, loud noise and vibration, while the movement of vehicles kicks up huge clouds of dust, creating a nuisance for those living and working nearby.

Activity continued despite enforcement

The PA first issued an enforcement notice on the site in 2013 (EC/00001/13), citing numerous illegalities.

According to the notice, the owners had illegally changed the use of agricultural land by depositing inert and other material, including limestone, illegally parked trailers and other commercial vehicles, and demolished existing rubble walls to merge fields into a single, large plot.

The notice was also issued over the deposition and levelling of material, including the use of a mobile crusher and the construction of various structures, including a store for vehicle parts, a wooden structure, and a prefabricated building with a kitchen.

The enforcement notice was appealed, and a staggering 12 years later, the appeal has yet to be decided.

Trailer trucks parked in the lot. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

While the exact fine is unclear, Maltese law allows for a maximum fine of €50 per day for such breaches.

Meanwhile, the illegal activity has continued and expanded.

Public documents indicate the company grew its asset base by more than 50 per cent over the period during which it has battled PA enforcement. 

It banked a net profit of €400,000 on revenues of just over €23 million in 2021, the most recent year for which it has filed audited accounts.

PA answered some questions

In reply to questions a PA spokesperson said the authority has no control over the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT), which handles all pending appeals.

“This falls within the competency of the tribunal and the Planning Authority has no involvement or control over the tribunal, which is totally independent,” the spokesperson said.

“Action was taken through the issuing of enforcement notice EC1/13, which carries daily fines, as well as additional breach notices, also with daily fines,” the spokesperson noted. 

The pending appeals, the spokesperson added, are also in relation to the daily fines.

The PA did not answer questions on whether it took any action to mitigate the expansion of the illegalities, the noise and the dust while the appeal is pending. It also would not say how much the owners were fined and how much they paid so far.

Questions sent to the landowners and the EPRT remained unanswered by the time of publication.

They were also asked, among other things, how much the company was fined in total and how much of it has been paid.

A planning plague

This ongoing situation highlights a long-standing breakdown in planning and enforcement processes, with significant ODZ land being damaged while legal proceedings remain in limbo.

In an interview on Times Talk last week, planning minister Clint Camilleri said that over the past decades the PA issued so many enforcement notices over different illegalities that it simply cannot keep up with them.

He said in the last 30 years there were enforcements on some 6,500 illegalities, only 1,500 of which were resolved.

“With what we still have pending, it will take us another 100 years to resolve the rest,” he said.

He was defending a legal notice that will allow people to pay hefty fines to be able to keep their illegal structures on ODZ land. 

Activists fear this only means the government is blessing past illegalities and signalling that the state will not go after anyone who builds illegally.

He did add, however, that this is where the government was drawing the line, and after this process the authorities will have no choice but to use excavators to pull down illegal structures.