The Environment and Resources Authority has given the Gozo Ministry permission to uproot almost 100 trees along the arterial road between Victoria and Marsalforn.
According to the permit, 62 of the trees will be transplanted while 37 will be uprooted and replaced with compensatory trees.
The uprooting of the trees is in connection with a project to widen the arterial road and the development of another road which will serve to bypass traffic away from Victoria’s centre.
According to the Gozo and planning ministry, the project is intended to widen the road, eliminate dangerous bends and introduce walkways and a cycle lane.
However, objectors and NGOs said that it will eat into roughly 11,000 square metres of arable land and disrupt Gozo’s biggest watercourse, il-Wied ta’ Marsalforn.
The project received the blessing of the Planning Authority in 2021, despite hundreds of strong objections.
Environment and heritage NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) had slammed the plans and appealed against the planning permit. However, the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) voted against the appeal and confirmed the project’s permit in its entirety.
The project, covered by permit PA/03000/19, includes the widening of the arterial road between Victoria and Marsalforn and the development of another road that will serve to bypass traffic away from Victoria’s centre.
The Gozo ministry awarded the €9 million tender to GP Gozo Consortium in 2020.
In answer to a parliamentary question later that year, Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri said the consortium was made up of Gatt Tarac Ltd and Prax Concrete Ltd, which is a company owned by developer Joseph Portelli, and his associates, Daniel Refalo and Mark Agius.
The final decision of the tribunal stated that, though the project will take up agricultural land, its impact falls within the scope of improving the national transport strategy.
In a 13-page decision, the tribunal, headed by chairperson Joseph Borg, said that out of the 305 trees and shrubs which will be uprooted, 98 will be transplanted within the application site.
“The rest of the trees are either not transplantable or not considered favourable for transplanting in view of their invasive/alien nature,” the decision read.
The report states that another 168 new indigenous species will be transplanted, with a minimum height of three metres.
FAA argued that the ERA had overlooked 38 protected trees found in the valley, adding that the planting of saplings is no compensation for the benefit of decades-old mature trees, which reduce pollutants and create a habitat for local fauna.
But the permit issued by the ERA last week mentions a total of 99 trees. The permit covers the transplanting of 19 African Tamarisk trees, two carob trees, 29 Olive trees, five almond trees, two pomegranate, two Poplar trees, two narrow-leaved ash trees and one nettle tree. It also covers the uprooting of nine Aleppo trees, nine Italian Cypress trees and 13 Eucalyptus trees.
The ERA ordered the applicant to deposit just under €81,000 as a bank guarantee on replacement trees that will be sowed instead.