Lateral expansion

This photograph of the Maghtab dump was taken a few days ago. It shows quite clearly that Maghtab is far from being closed down. The sign at the gate says it all - Maghtab Waste Disposal Site.

The fact is that dumping is still taking place on the summit of the mount although the bulk of Malta's and Gozo's domestic and other garbage is being deposited on the sides of the dump. Instead of making Maghtab taller the authorities have chosen to make it wider and the dump is expanding laterally on its southern side. These are incontrovertible facts, as opposed to statements claiming that Maghtab is closed. Likewise, all the promises and commitments made by successive ministers have turned out to be hogwash.

In a recently published interview, the current minister chose to describe the closure of Maghtab, Qortin and Tal-Fulija dumps as a breakthrough. One can therefore be forgiven for concluding that the minister believes he can pull the wool over our eyes by implementing the thoughts of Dresden James, who suggested that "when a well packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses, the truth will seem to be utterly preposterous". So successful has been this ploy that people who do not live in the vicinity of Maghtab actually believe it to be closed. It appears that you can, indeed, fool some of the people most of the time but politicians need to wake up to the fact that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

One thing is certain, this administration has certainly succeeded in fooling the people for the last 15 years at least on the subject of the Maghtab landfill. So perhaps it would not be amiss to reproduce a letter I wrote to The Times on the same subject in August, 1989:

"Recently one of the Labour dailies carried a front page feature berating the present government for not closing the Maghtab rubbish dump. While I wholeheartedly agree, it must not be forgotten that it was a Labour government that created this monstrosity in the first place. This reportage represents the absolute height of hypocrisy.

"Nonetheless it is extraordinary that, apart from the occasional letter of protest to the press, we accept and resignedly breathe the toxic and poisonous fumes that continuously spew from this mountain of rubbish to foul the surrounding atmosphere.

"Is it possible that these same fumes have lulled us all, government included, into a sense of complacency and laissez-faire?

"Is it too much to ask the minister concerned to make an official statement that can be relied upon, spelling out his intentions regarding this dump?"

Following publication of this letter, countless promises were made that Maghtab would shortly be closed. Now, 15 years later, Maghtab is allowed to grow apace.

Thus the plea in the last paragraph of the above letter is as relevant today as it was in 1989, when the landfill was still a slight blemish on the skyline, simple to remove. Over 15 years of uninterrupted dumping have produced the monstrosity we have today. The official statement that one has a right to expect should spell out the ministers' real intentions as well as answer the question: "Does the government intend to rehabilitate the area and if so how and when?"