The government has rejected farmers’ proposals for alternative sites in Magħtab to build a new waste-to-energy plant.
A group of Magħtab farmers wrote to Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia proposing other stretches of land – close by and in a poor state – that could, they said, be used instead of taking away their arable land and their livelihood.
The proposals were considered but it has been decided the project will go ahead as planned on the chosen sites, an Environmental Ministry spokeswoman said when contacted.
“Government regards the farming community as a very important stakeholder. After carefully examining the views put forward, the total area for expropriation was reduced from 279,000sqmetres to 82,000,” she said.
“We believe that the final setup as presented in the last days strikes the best balance between all the available options.”
The government, she said, had looked at the farmers’ options. They included a site that is home to various endemic trees and garigue habitat and another one located on the Żwejra landfill, which is excluded for engineering reasons.
“Out of all the remaining options, the chosen sites are regarded as the most suitable,” she said, adding that detailed studies would now be conducted as part of the permitting requirements.
The original plan to turn 150,000sq metres of land in an extended landfill had been shelved. Instead, Wasteserv, the government’s waste management company, is aiming to have a new waste-to-energy plant in place ahead of the original schedule and current landfill sites within the existing footprint will be used “to their full potential”.
Wasteserv has submitted an application for an outline development permit for the plant, which is expected to cost up to €190 million to build and a further €200 million to operate over two decades.
As part of the plan, all waste management activities will be concentrated at Magħtab and all other facilities, such as the Sant’Antnin plant, closed down.
The facility will include a new plant for the management of dry recyclable material and a plant for the treatment of organic waste to extract energy and produce compost for agriculture. The abattoir waste incinerator, also used for clinical waste, will be replaced.
In their letter, tabled in parliament last week by PN MP Edwin Vassallo, the farmers pleaded with the government to choose other sites. They said the government had eaten away at their land for the last 40 years and that there was enough land around theirs for the new plant.
Various governments had promised them and Magħtab residents that the landfill was going to be shut. Not only was it not being shut, but instead it was being enlarged, they noted.
Vassallo said when contacted that all the government had to do was cross the two-metre footpath separating the land it was eyeing and the land the farmers were proposing.
He called on the government to reconsider the options as the land being proposed was covered in construction waste dumped over the years and was not ecologically sensitive.