Labour plans 'islands' in land reclamation project

A new Labour government would be using construction waste for land reclamation projects, increasing the country's land size with new "islands" which it would be able to put to use.

Labour leader Alfred Sant said this yesterday when addressing a news conference on "A healthy environment - for our health".

Dr Sant highlighted Labour's priorities in the environmental sector. He said a new Labour government would close the Maghtab and Qortin rubbish dumps within 21 months of taking office.

Maghtab, Dr Sant said, was growing at a rate of two storeys every three weeks and Qortin was also growing fast. After the two dumps were closed, they would be transformed into zones which would benefit trade and tourism.

The Labour leader said that while construction waste would be used in long term reclamation projects, domestic waste would be separated in the home in partnership with local councils. Specific arrangements would also be made for toxic waste.

All this would be financed through the Labour Party's financial and economic plan for the country.

Dr Sant said that another priority was the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. This had originally been set up to ensure transparency and between 1996 and 1998 the Labour government had tried to ensure this, but MEPA had again become an instrument of manipulation and favouritism.

Turning to Fort Chambray in Gozo, the Labour leader said this project was supposed to be monitored and controlled by MEPA but it was actually just an environmental disaster.

At the same time, people who required permits for simple things were taking years to get them and it was clear that there was political manipulation.

On hunting and trapping, Dr Sant said there had to be a balance between the traditions the country had inherited and the environment.

Hunting and trapping regulations would revert to what they had been in December 2002. There would be full enforcement of these regulations.

The Labour leader said another priority was embellishment schemes and the safeguarding of natural resources. He said geological surveys would be held for the country to learn more about its heritage and how best this could be safeguarded.

The Labour Party, Dr Sant said, was also committed towards safeguarding animal rights and would enact legislation to ensure this.

The law enacted by the PN government, he pointed out, did not even go a third of the way.

Labour environment spokesman Joe Mizzi, who yesterday joined Dr Sant in a tour of Xghajra, said a new Labour government would extend the Sant'Antnin sewage treatment plant to cope with a bigger volume in a bid to solve the overflow problem at Xghajra and other localities.

Labour, he said, did not agree with the Nationalist Party proposal to build a new treatment plant in the south. Not only was this unnecessary, but there were no fields in the area so the second class water produced would have to be transported to be used for agriculture.

Xghajra mayor Anthony Valvo said that 80 per cent of the sewage produced in Malta ended up at the Wied Ghammieq drainage station. This amounted to an annual 20 million tonnes of drainage each year.

Mr Valvo said studies showed this had caused an environmental disaster on the seabed between Xghajra and Marsaxlokk and the situation would continue until drainage started to be treated.