The second version of plans for the Central Link road project, uploaded to the Planning Authority website on June 16, shows that 787 trees from 31 species are slated to be uprooted, Din L-Art Ħelwa officials said at a meeting of parliament's Development Planning Committee on Monday.

But transport Minister Ian Borg denied the claim, saying numbers were being banded about as if in a lottery.

Frederick Azzopardi, the new CEO of Infrastructure Malta, insisted that the  figures were incorrect and many more trees would be planted than those which had to be removed.

The Central Link Project would see the road from Attard to Rabat expanded from a two-lane two-way carriageway into a four-lane two-way carriageway.  

Earlier during the session, Dr Borg had said that the removal of two hundred trees, first reported by Times of Malta had never been an option, and that the plans referred to in the article had simply reflected an early version of the project as submitted by independent consultants. To this end, the plans continued to be revised in order to minimise the environmental impact of the project.

READ: Rabat tree uprooting plan axed following public outcry

Asked by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi why the latest versions of the plans, which reportedly provided for the removal of only three trees, had not yet been uploaded to the Planning Authority website, Mr Azzopardi said that this was because the final version of the development application would incorporate proposals received from various advocacy groups, NGOs, and other concerned parties.

Dr Azzopardi also asked the CEO about which architectural firm had been engaged for the project and how it was selected.

The CEO confirmed it to be Crowd Net Limited, chosen by direct order.

The Nationalist Party MP observed that the company is owned by a Labour Party official and Lands Authority employee. 

Many of those attending the committee sitting expressed dismay at what they said was the “arrogance” and aloofness of the transport minister, who reacted defensively to many of the objections raised.

Some attendees contrasted Dr Borg’s attitude to that displayed by Environment Minister Jose Herrera, praising the latter for his willingness to take proposals into consideration while lambasting the former for his assertion that some of those protesting the Central Link Project wished only to undermine the government’s hard work.

The representatives of the Attard Residents’ Environmental Network also condemned the “arrogance” with which they said they had been greeted by at Transport Malta.

Alfred Baldacchino, a well-known environmentalist, said that he had never seen such widespread damage to Malta’s natural environment in all his decades of activism. He described the uprooting of trees which were up to 300 years old, as an “orgy” of destruction, sanctioned by the government and paid for with public money.  

Transport specialist Maria Attard also criticised the government’s transport policy, insisting that a car-centric approach to infrastructure discriminated against those who did not or could not drive and that it restricted communities. She called for greater investment in socially just means of transport. Representatives of the Bicycle Advocacy Group called for better infrastructural support for alternative means of transport.

Presenting an alternative to the project, geologist Peter Gatt called for the current Rabat road to be converted to a one-way road towards Rabat, and for the former railway tunnel stopping by Triq il-Korsija to handle traffic heading back towards Attard. However, the transport minister said that the tunnel did not solve the issue of traffic flow from Rabat to Attard, as it stopped at Saqqajja Hill.

Frederick Azzopardi argued that a cost-benefit analysis had demonstrated that the proposed four-lane carriageway was the best solution to the problem. The project would use 16,000sqm less than allocated in local plans extant for decades, he added. He expressed that proposals received from the public would be incorporated where they suited the aims of the project “until the very last minute.”

Committee chairperson Alex Muscat (PL) said that the planning process had yet to begin, and that the statutory consultation period would give space to all those who wished to express their views on the project.