Several olive trees replanted in a Dingli field last weekend were returned to a public garden in Santa Luċija, just days after they were controversially uprooted from the same locality.

Times of Malta visited the field between Dingli and Rabat on Friday, only to find the trees that were seen being unloaded by a crane and replanted in the field last Saturday are now gone.

Santa Luċija mayor Charmaine St John said when contacted that the trees had been returned after the council was outraged to see a story in last weekend’s The Sunday Times of Malta, which reported about the trees’ saga.

She said she was “shocked” to see that the trees, which were being uprooted to make way for a controversial road project, had been taken out of the locality.

“We had several meetings with all the people involved and we were assured that none of the trees will be taken out of the locality,” she said.

“I was shocked when I read the story in your newspaper that our trees were taken to Dingli, even though it was temporary.”

Trees were moved to a site in Dingli last week. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

A day later, the trees were back in Santa Luċija and replanted in Masġar Karl Chircop.

She added that other trees uprooted from the jogging track were being replanted in the Chinese Garden and at the grounds of the secondary school.

We do not want our trees to be planted elsewhere

New trees were being planted in the picnic area in the vicinity as Infrastructure Malta has committed to plant 10 new trees for every tree uprooted. They also need to be watered by Infrastructure Malta and the contractor for the next five years.

“We are monitoring the works closely as we do not want our trees to be planted elsewhere,” she said.

“We are going to take measures to identify each and every tree to make sure that we do not lose any,” she added.

It is still not known who owns the Dingli field in Triq tal-Kalkara in an area known as Ta’ Manduka and neither how it was chosen.

The site in question has a permit issued in the name of Anthony Sammut for the construction of reservoirs, a pump room, the installation of a traditional wind-driven pump and a greenhouse.

In Santa Luċija, trees marked for destruction sport a distinctive green mark. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Some 295 trees are being uprooted from Santa Luċija to make way for a €20 million underpass project, which the government hopes will ease traffic.

A further 250 will be transplanted to another location.

When contacted, a spokesman for Infrastructure Malta confirmed that the olive trees which had been temporarily taken to Dingli until the new road project in Santa Luċija is completed were taken back to the locality by the contractor.

Infrastructure Malta said it will be planting another 1,257 trees at the Majjistral Park, Mellieħa, and the Magħtab Park, Naxxar.

The removal of hundreds of trees for road projects has spurred environmentalists into action and led to a flurry of protests.

Last month, more than 1,000 people demonstrated against plans to chop down 594 trees to make way for the Central Link road widening project between Rabat and Attard.