Rubble could be dumped in the sea as a short-term solution, Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia has suggested as the roadworks projects in the country remain at a standstill.

“This happened in the past, permits had been issued and I am not excluding that this could be happening again," the minister said in parliament on Monday.

He noted that this option had been used to dispose of waste generated at the Smart City project under a Nationalist government, without breaching environmental laws.

Roadworks projects are currently at a standstill over a disagreement concerning waste disposal. Roads agency Infrastructure Malta has claimed that there is nowhere left to dispose of rubble, while the environmental regulator has noted that plenty of quarries have space remaining for those willing to pay the going rate. 

Farrugia has himself dismissed Infrastructure Malta's claims, saying there is dumping space "for years to come".

Speaking in parliament, Farrugia said dumping at sea was a short-term option, with recycling and land reclamation the two longer-term solutions which needed more work. 

Problems with Infrastructure Malta had arisen because the quarry it had been using to dispose of the inert waste was no longer accepting debris.
 
Replying to various Opposition MPs, who asked for a clarification on what they described as contradictory statements by the Environment Ministry and Infrastructure Malta, he insisted that the problem was not of capacity but about agreeing on the right price. 

“Whether current prices are in line with the market could be the subject of a study, which I will be seeking to conduct,” he said.

Prices to dump construction waste have almost doubled in the past year, rising from around €8 a tonne to €15.

Farrugia's predecessor, Jose' Herrera, had sought to strike a deal to guarantee an €8 per tonne price in exchange for fiscal incentives. But Farrugia said this proposal had failed to resolve the issue.