Sant'Antnin plant decision undermines MEPA's credibility - AD

MEPA'S green light to the outline development of the Sant'Antnin waste recycling plant in Marsascala and the "bogus" process that led to it undermine the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's credibility, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said yesterday.

Speaking before a meeting between AD and representatives from the committee against the recycling plant yesterday, Dr Vassallo claimed MEPA's decision jeopardised other government plans to introduce additional waste treatment plants.

Reaffirming AD's support for the committee's campaign, Dr Vassallo insisted that the party was in favour of the waste recycling process and the production of biogas as indicated in the project description statement.

When a journalist pointed out that AD had expressed its approval of the Marsascala plant being improved, Dr Vassallo said that as the money was going to be spent partially on rebuilding the plant from scratch, there should have been a serious rethink about the its location.

Asked whether AD had any alternative sites in mind, Dr Vassallo said the party had several but added that the best sites should be indicated by technical people.

"The problem with this whole issue is that it was a political party which chose the site... the decision to have the plant located there was pre-determined," he claimed.

Marsascala mayor Charlot Mifsud said all the committee was asking for was a fair process.

"Despite that we have been suffering the consequences from the plant for so many years, we are not saying that the current site should not be reviewed along with other sites. But let it be a proper selection, not a mockery," he appealed.

In a statement issued soon afterwards yesterday, the Environment Ministry said AD was making ambiguous statements to gain political mileage.

It said AD had agreed with the 2001 national waste management strategy, which clearly stated that all waste should be treated at Sant'Antnin. Now that the government had proposed a plan to improve the plant with an investment of €17 million so that a third of the country's waste could treated in Marsascala, the AD was opposing it.

The ministry said the site selection process was transparent: the identification of Sant'Antnin was not only based on the size of the alternative sites but also on ecological and agricultural factors.