Justified call for inquiry

Alfred Sant's call for an inquiry on the selection of the Mnajdra quarry as a landfill site is timely and justified in view of the many aberrations which surround the decisions being taken by Minister Ninu Zammit. At least three important issues have to be investigated:

1. The Mnajdra quarry has been selected as a landfill site despite it having been considered as inappropriate for land filling by the government's own experts. The government's opinion on the best available sites was expressed in the Project Description Statement issued by the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure in 2002.

In section 3.2, a list of seven sites (inclusive of Benghajsa and Ghallis) were selected by the ministry as being the most appropriate sites for an engineered landfill. The quarry site at Mnajdra is not listed as one of the seven sites and yet it has been selected as a landfill site. Mr Zammit should explain why right after the elections, he had ignored the advice of government experts and sought a new site apart from the seven sites shortlisted for land filling.

2. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA), in an unprecedented move, had issued a statement on July 23 claiming that the Project Description Statement issued by the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure for the Mnajdra quarry site was in 'conformity with best practice and according to Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste'.

This statement is in fact an approval of the proposed landfill project at Mnajdra. MEPA should explain why such a premature statement was issued before the environmental impact assessment process has started and before all studies stipulated in the EU Directive have been produced (which will not be the case) and examined.

It will be the prerogative of the EIA consultants to decide whether the Mnajdra landfill project conforms to the EU Directive and other standards. The procedure is that these experts (who have not been selected yet) will have to decide on such matters in a report which they will compile and pass on to MEPA. However, MEPA's prejudicial statement in favour of the project has now undermined the independence of the EIA consultants who have not yet written their technical report on the site. MEPA's contempt of the EIA process needs to be investigated and any undue political pressure exhumed.

3. The Mnajdra quarry is one of the few, if not the only quarry in Malta to have a ban on the use of explosives. Rock excavation at the quarry had been halted because of its proximity to the megalithic temples. The restriction on rock cutting (confirmed in parliament by Mr Zammit) makes the Mnajdra quarry site the least appropriate quarry site in Malta for constructing an engineered landfill, and could not have possibly been selected by experts as claimed by Mr Zammit.

The effect of the ban on rock cutting is that the quarry sides cannot be redimensioned to gradients which are within the accepted factor of safety for landfill liners. An investigation could reveal whether undue pressure was made on the government for the selection of one of Malta's most inappropriate sites for an engineered landfill.

Joe Mizzi is the Labour Party's main spokesman on infrastructural services.