Government roads agency Infrastructure Malta is refusing to say how many of the trees it transplanted to build roads have survived, saying the information is not available. 

In recent years, the agency has come under fire for repeatedly uprooting trees to make way for roads as part of major projects, most recently the Central Link Project.

Defending its work, Infrastructure Malta had repeatedly pledged to transplant elsewhere trees it uproots while carrying out works.

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) also binds the agency to continue taking care of trees it uproots after these are transplanted. ERA guidelines for works involving trees state that any transplanted trees must be regularly inspected and looked after "for at least three years."

Infrastructure Malta made such transplanting pledges in projects all across the island, from Tal-Balal road to Santa Lucija, Spencer Hill, Balzan and Marsalforn, among many others.

Almost 50 trees were to be transplanted for the Buqana project while a massive 250 were to be moved by Infrastructure Malta as part of the Central Link road project.

Infrastructure Malta dodges question

When contacted for an update on the trees removed because of the Central Link and Buqana projects, both completed in recent years, a spokesperson for the road agency did not say how many trees survived the transplanting.

Instead, the spokesperson merely said: “If transplanting is not successful, the transplanted trees are replaced with new ones.”

Follow-up questions on the number of trees that did not survive the transplanting remained unanswered. On Saturday morning, the spokesperson said information on the number of "transplanted trees that had to be replaced with new ones" is not available. 

Photo: Infrastructure Malta

The spokesperson also supplied a series of photos he said are of trees that have been transplanted after being uprooted to make way for roads. 

Biodiversity experts have repeatedly warned the authorities that uprooting certain mature trees and transplanting them elsewhere was a risky move as most trees were unlikely to survive

In recent weeks, the transplanting of trees made headlines once again because 26 trees are in the process of being uprooted as part of works under way at the Siġġiewi-Żebbuġ junction.

Biodiversity experts have repeatedly warned the authorities that uprooting certain mature trees and transplanting them elsewhere was a risky move as most trees were unlikely to survive.

According to the agency’s spokesperson, trees removed from the Central Link Project areas were transplanted in “adjacent fields” and in the Wied Incita area, which forms part of the Environmental Landscapes Consortium grounds in Attard.

Trees from the Santa Luċija Roundabout Underpass Project were transplanted in Dawret it-Torri and Il-Prinjol Street, within the same locality, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, trees from the site of the Marsa Junction Project can be found in Giuseppe Garibaldi Road and in Bormla Garden, in Cospicua. Those from Triq il-Buqana project were transplanted in Majjistral Park, l-Għadira s-Safra and Triq ta’ Għar Lapsi.