Activists camping in Dingli to stop works to build a “road to nowhere” said on Saturday that vibrations from those works had caused parts of a nearby wall to collapse. 

“This wall is a stone’s throw away from a medieval chapel which the new road will pass right next to,” Moviment Graffitti said on social media. “We have repreatedly said that these works will seriously endanger this chapel. What has just happened confirms this.”

The activist group shared photos of the damaged wall, saying parts of the rubble-built wall had given way under the strain of vibrations caused by works on the part of the road that has already been built. 

An activist who is among those protesting told Times of Malta the group's main concern was that a similar fate could befall the medieval chapel. 

"The works that caused this were far away from the wall which collapsed, so even with a buffer zone around the chapel, we are concerned that the same thing could happen," she said. "Once again, the biggest problem is the lack of proper procedures around the works."

Infrastructure Malta acknowledged that part of the rubble wall had been dislodged by works and said the contractor’s workers had immediately repaired it. It provided a photo of the repaired wall as proof. 

Photo provided by Infrastructure Malta showing the damaged wall after repairs.

The agency said the wall had nothing to do with the medieval chapel that activists were making reference to and noted that the house it belonged to is earmarked for demolition, with a 2020 planning permit having been approved to remove it and the rubble wall to build a new residence. 

Activists have been camped in the rural area just off Daħla s-Sienja for two weeks in a direct effort to stop the Infrastructure Malta-led road works from continuing into fields that fall outside the development zone. 

Infrastructure Malta has said that the road was marked in 2006 local plans and that it has all the paperwork necessary to build it. Activists say the local plans and drawings provided by the roads agency do not match and say the plans must therefore go through the Planning Authority. 

A Graffitti activist described the project as one to build a “road to nowhere”. 
“It’s not the road that worries us. It’s what comes after it,” he said, alluding to fears that the road will serve as a pretence to further development in the rural village. 

Activists say they want Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg, who is from Dingli, to meet with them and residents at the site of the contested works, to discuss a way forward. Azzopardi and Borg have so far not accepted the invitation.