Updated 1.43pm with Transport Ministry reaction below
Activist group Moviment Graffitti has complained that Transport and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg is refusing to meet it in the presence of residents and farmers to discuss plans for a controverisal new road in Dingli.
Various attempts for a meeting – coordinated by Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia as a mediator – fell through in the past few days, Wayne Flask from the NGO, said.
The movement's activists will therefore stay on site in an attempt to stop works.
In a reaction, Infrastructure Malta said invitations for a meeting had been declined by the NGO, and proposals which the NGO made had nothing to do with the layout of the proposed road.
At the heart of the issue is the building of a new road to link an alley at Daħla tas-Sienja to San Ġwann Bosco Street in Dingli. Moviment Graffitti is insisting that no permit has been issued, the road will stray outside the development zone and take up valuable agricultural land.
“We plan to stay here…. This is about social justice. They don’t have the clearance from the Lands Authority to do the works in an ODZ as there have been not any expropriations. This is clearly illegal,” Flask said.
Moviment Graffitti has been calling on Borg and Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi to meet them on the site in Dingli where work has started on the controversial new road and share plans of works intended outside of the development zone.
“We were told to send our demands which we did. They are trying to divide us. We were also told that the meeting is conditional to us leaving the area, but we did not agree to this since it depends on the outcome,” said Flask.
Infrastructure Malta decided to go ahead with the building of the schemed street after the Environment and Planning Tribunal turned down an appeal against a permit for the uprooting of trees.
Since then, three Dingli residents filed a judicial protest against Moviment Graffitti, arguing that the activist group was acting “abusively, clandestinely and against the express wishes of residents”. However, nearly 250 Dingli residents signed a Graffitti petition against the building of the road. The Dingli council has come out in favour of the plans.
The Planning Authority has said that the road works in this part of Dingli formed part of a scheme road and no permit was, therefore, required.
Transport Ministry: Graffitti proposals nothing to do with road layout
In a reaction, the Transport Ministry said it had sent more than one invitation to the NGO to meet and discuss its concerns but the invitations were declined.
"We are regularly meeting many Dingli residents living in this area. Last week, Infrastructure Malta accepted seven specific, feasible and positive requests made by residents of San Gwann Bosco," the agency said.
"We also asked Moviment Graffitti to send us their demands, ahead of a possible meeting. They sent us four requests. None of them included proposals or requests about the layout of the road itself. One of them was a request to reach expropriation agreements before carrying out works.
"Infrastructure Malta already has agreements with most landowners, including all areas where works have already commenced. If these agreements are in place, why should works be stopped?"
The ministry said disagreements about expropriations are normally a question of compensation amounts, which are determined by the Lands Authority under applicable mechanisms and regulations.
The other three requests had nothing to do with the new road itself. "They were requests for clarifications on ODZ alignments, which are set by the Planning Authority, and requests for changes to Malta’s planning policies and regulations, which are outside the Infrastructure Malta remit.