Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg is “lying” to defend plans to build an unnecessary roundabout in Burmarrad, lobby group Moviment Graffitti said on Wednesday. 

The NGO said that drawings which roads agency Infrastructure Malta submitted to the Planning Authority clearly showed that the proposed roundabout would “invade” an area currently occupied by a water reservoir needed by farmers. 

Borg told Times of Malta on Tuesday that the reservoir would “not be destroyed” by the roundabout, which he insisted had nothing to do with a developer’s plans to build a large supermarket on nearby Outside Development Zone land. 

“The water reservoir is partly sited at street level and has no way of being saved if the roadworks go ahead,” Graffitti said. 

The lobby group also noted that the road works plans submitted to the PA included a design for a walkway suspended right above the reservoir -  a structure the lobby group described as “bizarre” and “worrisome”. 

“This not only confirms that at least part of the reservoir will be destroyed, since demolition works are planned at one of its sides, but also poses a danger to those using it,” they said. 

Thousands of objections against the Burmarrad roundabout plans have been filed with the PA so far, following Moviment Graffitti’s grassroots campaign to push back against Infrastructure Malta plans. 

The roads agency says the roundabout is needed as a "traffic calming" measure to reduce the risk of road accidents in the area. 

Farmers in the area say that their livelihoods will be ruined if the water reservoir or its source are affected. Others opposed to the project say that the roundabout is only needed if plans to build a supermarket in the area are approved.

Those plans, first filed in 2018 by developers Bonnici Brothers, were reactivated this year after Infrastructure Malta filed its Burmarrad roundabout planning application. Bonnici Brothers received more than €7 million in direct orders from the roads agency last year, Graffitti have noted.

Minister Ian Borg has said it is “absolutely not true” that the roundabout is being built to help those plans. Graffitti on Wednesday said that was not credible.

A cross-section of the proposal which shows the suspended walkway to be build above the reservoir.

“We do not believe this is a simple coincidence, particularly since the proposed roundabout is sited exactly in front of the proposed supermarket. We understand Minister Borg is under pressure after losing several portfolios to other ministers, however he’s only being consistent when it comes to deceiving the public. This is both alarming and disgusting.”

The activist group said that it would continue its campaign of direct actions to add pressure on authorities to slam the brakes on this and other projects which it says are harming quality of life and threatening livelihoods. 

“We will not stand idly by as you trample on the livelihoods of farmers and residents. You shall not pass,” they said.