PN and ADPD candidates contesting the fifth district agree with eNGOs that a site, off Wied Żnuber, earmarked for the development of a miniature airstrip, should be designated as an outside development zone (ODZ) area.
All PL candidates, on the other hand, skirted the yes/no question by the organisations Għaqda Storja u Kultura Birżebbuġa, Moviment Graffitti, BirdLife Malta and Din l-Art Ħelwa.
The alarm about the airstrip was initially raised by a group of farmers with Times of Malta after INDIS (former Malta Industrial Parks) officials turned up accompanied by representatives of an airplane model association.
Concern was later voiced by the Birżebbuġa council, Moviment Graffitti, BirdLife Malta, Birżebbuġa residents and 14 other NGOs.
The Environment and Resources Authority had told Times of Malta that it had not received any application for a model airstrip next to the protected land.
So the four NGOs asked electoral candidates contesting the fifth district: do you agree that the Wied Żnuber area where there are plans for a miniature airstrip for model airplanes, currently administered by INDIS Malta Ltd, becomes a designated ODZ to secure its future as undeveloped land?
Robert Abela, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, Owen Bonnici, Gianluca Cutajar, Miriam Dalli, Omar Farrugia, Julia Farrugia Portelli, Jean Claude Micallef and Joseph Mario Sammut did not answer the question.
Some of them provided comments backing up their absention.
Anthony Bezzina, Stefan Caruana, Francine Farrugia, Bernard Grech, Owen Sciberras, Stanley Zammit and Melissa Joan Bagely said they were in favour of an ODZ designation.
On Thursday the Prime Minister said "there will be no development in Wied Żnuber”.
However, the airstrip is being planned for a stretch of land off Wied Żnuber, right next to a Natura 2000 site and a nesting ground for vulnerable seabirds that are sensitive to sound and light.
The area is situated between a strip of factories and cliffs that are home to colonies of shearwaters and seagulls.
Following comments by Abela, Għaqda Storja u Kultura Birżebbuġa and Moviment Graffitti called on the PL leader to categorically declare that the airstrip will not be built there.