Residents from Qrendi, Mqabba, Żurrieq, Kirkop and Siġġiewi on Sunday protested plans to relocate a tarmac plant, saying the move was “madness”.

Liza Micallef. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

They are concerned the Planning Authority intends to approve a proposal to relocate a BIP Ltd tarmac plant from Ħal Far to a disused quarry in Mqabba at a distance of 500 metres from residences.

“What’s the point of proposing open spaces if we end up locked in our homes, with our windows closed,” Qrendi resident Liza Micallef asked those gathered in protest in Qrendi, where, she said, residents had been forced to protest to defend their basic right for clean air.

“It’s our duty, not just as residents, but also as Maltese citizens, to stand up for the common good. This includes the environment in which we were brought up, which is being ruined by people who have no link to our villages and have even less interest in the welfare of the residents.

“This, like so many fights in other villages, is a fight against the only interest behind this application: money. And as always in such instances, residents and the natural environment will be the ones who suffer the consequences.”

Micallef warned against turning the issue political: “This initiative is entirely led by residents, and we want to keep it that way, free of political interference”.

Micallef also questioned the reasoning behind the relocation of the plant from an industrial zone to a residential area: “doesn’t our health matter? Has no one, from the authorities, realised that this project will choke us and our children?”

She referred to a similar plant in Iklin and San Ġwann, which, she said, had made the lives of residents “miserable”.

Protestors decried overdevelopment. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

BIP Ltd is owned by Sandra Axiak and Francesca Penza, daughters of contractor Carmel Penza. The PA’s case officer has recommended that the transfer to Mqabba be approved, but the application hearing, originally scheduled for November 14, was postponed as public scrutiny of the decision intensified.

Local councils of Qrendi, Mqabba, Safi, Rabat, Żurrieq, Kirkop and Siġġiewi have declared they are against the plant’s relocation, and residents are concerned about the impact a tarmac plant would have on their long-term health.

Some mayors from these localities attended the protest on Sunday morning, as did PN MPs David Agius and Toni Bezzina and PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba.

Residents carried banners reading “no love for Mqabba” (għal Imqabba, m’hemmx imħabba) and posters decrying overdevelopment.

Addressing the crowd, anti-poverty activist Matthew Borg, who is also a member of the new Għaqda Residenti taż-Żurrieq, questioned how ERA and the PA could even consider such a proposal.

He said just like what happened in Iklin and San Ġwann, ERA and the PA will say residents will not smell or hear anything while the plant is operating.

Matthew Borg. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“Dear ERA and PA, do you know what residents will smell for sure? A barrage of bad decisions. You no longer take decisions in favour of residents and the common good.”

Żurrieq residents, he said, were quite familiar with such smells.

Only recently, they got together to fight the building of apartments and roads on 12 tumoli of government-owned agricultural land.

“We are fighting so that Nigret is not lost once and for all. We are fighting to preserve Maltese culture because human beings are tied to the land on which they live”.