Updated 2.20pm with IM and ERA's reaction

A Żebbuġ local councillor, eNGOs and environmentalists are calling on the Environment and Resources Authority to remedy the damage at Wied Qirda.

In November Times of Malta had reported that Infrastructure Malta workers defied a stop and compliance order issued by the environment watchdog over illegal works in the Żebbuġ valley, including the uprooting of three protected carob trees. 

At the time, Infrastructure Malta had said it did not see why the order had been issued as discussions with ERA had been ongoing for a number of months.  

On Wednesday, Arnold Cassola, former head of Alternattiva Demokratika said he had filed a criminal complaint asking the police to investigate and prosecute the alleged breach of environmental laws by Fredrick Azzopardi, who heads IM.

Meanwhile, Moviment Graffitti, Friends of the Earth Malta, Futur Ambjent Wieħed, Żebbuġ local councillor Steve Zammit Lupi and Prof. Cassola have now joined forces and filed an application before the Environment and Planning Law Review Tribunal requesting ERA to ensure remedial action.

Wied Qirda has been mutilated mercilessly as a result of unauthorised works being carried out in this protected valley by IM, they said in a joint statement on Friday.

The country path has been paved over and widened considerably, the topography of the valley bed altered, a large structure is being built over the valley bed and the very physical characteristics of the valley have been changed, they are claiming.

"This has been done without authorisation from ERA, in an ecologically sensitive zone without any form of approved method statement. It is unacceptable, retrograde and barbaric for a government agency to bulldoze a special area of conservation without any regard for the law whatsoever."

The appellants are calling on ERA to establish who is personally and directly responsible for ordering and authorising the work.

"It would be adding insult to injury to have Infrastructure Malta pay to remedy the environmental damage, when Infrastructure Malta is paid for by the taxpayer," they said.

The taxpayer would first have financed the illegal works and then paid for their removal.

"It is high time that personal liability is assumed by those responsible for the outright destruction of Wied Qirda, and also to set the yardstick for similar misbehaviour in the future. Law-abiding citizens should not have to pay for Frederick Azzopardi’s and Infrastructure Malta's mess."

ERA and IM joint statement

In a joint statement, ERA and IM said that the environment watchdog was closely following the "repair works of sections of the rural road at Wied Qirda, to ensure the protection of this area of high natural importance".
 
IM said it was collaborating with ERA so that work to restore the safety of the road would not endanger the area’s long-term environmental sustainability.

Once the work was completed, it would contribute to the regeneration of this valley through interventions specified by the same authority.
 
ERA also noted that the Stop and Enforcement Order issued in November was not meant to stop the works permitted by law to repair the road, but to request that it is informed on the methodology of works and to ensure the least impact on the environment.

Once the enforcement order was issued, it had informed the agency that in another section of the same road, a 70 square metre area of disturbed land outside the pre-existing footprint had been asphalted.

"IM’s contractors complied immediately and this asphalt was removed within a few days.
 
"In another section of this road, additional road foundation and rubble wall reconstruction work is needed to repair damages caused by a truck that accidentally overturned on the side of the road during the resurfacing works late last year."

These repairs were necessary but did not constitute a public safety risk, ERA added. IM has not yet carried out these works.

Once all work is completed, the authority will continue to monitor the area to verify that IM reinstated the valley to its natural state. Any such works will be carried out by IM.