Mepa pressed over 'partial' enforcement action

The Save Wied Garnaw Action Group said yesterday that action taken by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority against an illegal skip depot in the valley was insufficient.

"Mepa failed to remove illegally dumped material from a field in Wied Garnaw and instead simply covered it up with soil. Moreover, an illegally erected man-high boundary wall around the site has been left in place," the action group said in a statement.

Insisting that Mepa should have been more thorough in carrying out enforcement action, the group said Mepa's "partial" action raised two serious concerns.

"First of all, the field in question has not been restored to its original state and it remains an eyesore.

"Secondly, Mepa is considering an application for the building of a waste sorting plant on this very spot in a fertile valley which falls outside the development zone.

"Has this application influenced Mepa's decision to allow the illegally dumped material and the boundary wall to remain in place?" the action group asked.

The Ombudsman has highlighted cases where Mepa did not remove illegalities because it was anticipating their future approval, the group argued.

It said it looked forward to receiving a written explanation from the authority even though, on asking Mepa to justify its omission, the authority's chairman replied that Mepa was not obliged to justify its actions, the group added.

The action group said it asked the ombudsman's office whether Mepa was obliged to give an explanation. The ombudsman replied that citizens had a sacrosanct right to receive from public authorities replies to their queries.

The Save Wied Garnaw Action Group called on Environment Minister George Pullicino to find out why Mepa has allowed the illegal wall and dumped material to remain in place.