The government will be appealing a whopping €100,000 fine for uprooting trees without a permit.  

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) said last week it had issued the hefty fine after works at Ta’ Qali were carried out without environmental authorisation.  

It did not name who was behind the works but said they were related to the development of “a new concert area” in the vicinity of the park.

Times of Malta is informed that the fine was dished out to an entity falling under the Infrastructure Ministry, headed by Transport Minister Ian Borg.

Valletta Cultural Agency head Jason Micallef, who is coordinating the project, said when contacted that an appeal would be filed by Borg’s ministry in the coming days.  

Mature trees planted at the site recently. Photo: Facebook

Micallef defended the project saying it would have a positive environmental impact once completed.  

Sources at the ERA said that entities falling under Borg’s ministry have been slapped with several fines for uprooting trees and other acts of “environmental vandalism” without the necessary permits in recent years.

Ta' Qali works started before ERA permit 

The ERA board said that during its last sitting earlier this month it had been presented with an application to uproot trees at Ta’ Qali to develop a new concert area. However, the green watchdog said that works on the site had already begun by the time the board came to review the application.

ERA granted the project an environmental permit for the remaining works subject to a bank guarantee of €174,000. It also ordered that some 675 trees be planted as compensation along with the hefty fine.  

Borg’s ministry has come under scathing criticism for the way it has uprooted trees in the last few years, especially since the government announced the Central Link roadworks project.

When the plans for the project were published it was revealed that trees that lined the road between Attard and Rabat would be torn down to make way for new asphalting.  

This was met with opposition by both environmentalists and residents.

However, the government still steamed ahead with the project.

In March, the Planning Authority approved the construction of an open-air concert and recreational space in Ta’ Qali where a concrete plant stood.

The government project forms part of an overhaul of the national park that will see it double in size.  The project is set to include a performance stage, shops for refreshments and music bands’ merchandise, a clinic and water reservoirs.