Funding takes centre stage in debate on waste management

Opposition environment spokesman Joe Mizzi yesterday accused the government of not doing anything concrete to tackle the waste disposal problem and Malta's waste mountain was continuing to grow.

He said in parliament during the budget debate on the Infrastructure Ministry that the government was promising the people that EU funds would be made available for this problem to be solved. But, clearly, the problem would have to be solved by taxpayers' money before Malta joined the EU.

The government had originally said that solving the waste problem would cost Lm120 million, but the latest figure was Lm70 million. How had this discrepancy come about?

Mr Mizzi referred to the MLP's environment document and said a Labour government's first priority would be to introduce waste separation on a national basis and recycle a substantial portion of the waste. That would be accompanied by an intensive environmental campaign. Inert waste would be used for land reclamation.

A Labour government would close Maghtab and Qortin in Gozo within 21 months, he said.

Mr Mizzi warned that if Malta joined the EU, the price of dumping a tonne of waste in a landfill under EU rules could rise from a few cents, to up to Lm60, as was the case in Luxembourg. As a result people may end up dumping all over the place.

Mr Mizzi observed that MIC was saying that the landfills would be closed next year. But where was the budget funding for the required changes and for the rehabilitation of Maghtab?

No studies had been made according to international standards for the identification of a site for an engineered landfill. The Labour government had asked the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to identify the best site but had rejected its proposals because they did not meet international standards.

Four years on, the present government still did not know where it would set up the landfill. So how was it asking the MLP? The MLP's reply was that the site should be identified after a study according to international standards, Mr Mizzi concluded.

Mr Charles Buhagiar (MLP) said the budget also did not provide for the funding required for the building of the sewage treatment plants.

Infrastructure Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said the MLP's environment policy did not provide solutions to environmental concerns. The MLP was not saying how it would replace Maghtab. No documents ever showed that the Labour government had rejected, or indeed, accepted the PA's proposals on siting the new landfill, showing that the Labour government had slept on this problem.

That Mr Mizzi had said that Malta would be responsible for its environmental projects actually meant that there would not be a Brussels diktat of the type Labour liked to talk about. Mr Mizzi should have said that Malta as a member of the EU would be eligible for EU funds to upgrade its environment.

The Waste Management Strategy established the cost of the implementation of the plan at Lm70 million as capital expenditure. Was the opposition criticising the fact that the estimate had gone down?

A decision on how Maghtab and the other landfill sites could be rehabilitated would be taken on the basis of a study being made now to ensure that those using the site were not exposed to dangers.

The government was following the established procedures for the identification of the site for the new landfill. Would a Labour government start this process all over again?

Dr Michael Asciak (PN) said the opposition's criticism was shallow. It was only this government that had ever started to tackle the Maghtab problem and it was allocating Lm1 million in capital spending for this purpose.

The Nationalist MP highlighted the fact that bathing water contamination had been substantially reduced this year.

He said the sewage treatment plants project had fallen back because it was shelved in the two years of the Labour government. The government was now allocating Lm5 million in capital expenditure for this purpose.

Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando (PN) asked how the MLP planned to close Maghtab and Qortin within two years when it had not even identified where to set up a new landfill. Where would it get the funds it needed once it was against EU membership? Was Labour considering raising taxes or introducing bio-taxation?

The Nationalist MP said Malta should consider using building waste for land reclamation. Developers should be encouraged to use the materials they excavated from their own sites.