The Planning Authority has deferred its decision on an application by Palumbo shipyard to extend its dock number six by 40 metres after the majority of board members expressed concerns about a pending enforcement notice over the illegal depositing of grit.
The board members also expressed concerns about the intensification of industrial uses so close to the residences of Cottonera residents.
They were considering an application filed by dockyard operator Palumbo for the extension of the existing dock 6, including excavation, demolition of structures and the construction of an operations room.
Palumbo Malta Shipyard Ltd general manager Joseph Calleja explained that the request was solely to be able to service bigger and longer ships. He gave assurances that there will be no change in use and that the project was required for Palumbo to remain competitive by providing services to longer, more modern vessels.
The dock was excavated in the mid-1970s with old photographs showing how the dock was constructed in around 1975.
The project’s architect told the board that there were approximately 28,000 cubic metres of rock that needed to be excavated and that this would take between four and five months.
Architect Tara Cassar said Cottonera residents were objecting to the proposal. Dock six was already big enough for the largest cruise liners in the world so residents were struggling to understand why Palumbo wanted to extend the dock, with potential adverse impacts on air and noise pollution.
In addition, and perhaps more importantly, there was a pending enforcement notice on site for illegally deposited grit. She said the enforcement action was appealed but the usual practice is that no further developments are considered until the illegalities are removed.
PA deputy chairman Martin Micallef agreed with this, quoting a legal notice that states that no further developments should be considered before illegalities are addressed.
He said although the enforcement does not specify whether the illegalities were at dock six or any other dock, the entire facility was covered by one concession and had one operator. He also raised the issue of intensification of industrial use so close to residents.
PA chairman Emanuel Camilleri asked whether the operator could guarantee it would respect the conditions once there was at least one instance when the permit conditions were not respected, leading to the issuance of an enforcement notice.
Calleja replied that while the enforcement action was being appealed in court, this was issued under the previous operator and before Palumbo took over the dockyard. Sandblasting at the dockyard had stopped in 2017 and Palumbo had invested heavily in the use of waterjets to achieve the same or even better results.
When the application was put to the vote, six of nine board members expressed their intention to vote against the planning directorate’s recommendation to grant the permit so the final vote was deferred to another date.