Dumping at World Heritage site

A landfill close to Mnajdra would be tantamount to dumping of rubbish on Malta's treasures, according to Linda Eneix, the director and president of the US-based Old Temple Study Foundation (OTSF).

This foundation last month organised an international seminar in Malta on archaeology. As expected, the proposed landfill drew the focussed attention and angry comments of participants. Ms Eneix and other international archaeologists have expressed astonishment as to how anyone could consider locating an engineered landfill at such an archeologically sensitive site.

To make matters worse, there is the fact, which remains a disturbing reality even when ignored, that currently we do not have the required infrastructure in place for proper and effective waste separation. The funds for this project would be not be available to us before 2006.

Informed experts agree that without proper waste separation there cannot possibly be a proper engineered landfill. Thus, the landfill at Hagar Qim would in essence be nothing more that a mini-Maghtab. The squandering of several million liri in taxpayers' money can cover up and circumvent this fact but never alter it. One cannot blame it on the EU. There is no EU directive requiring us to construct a mini-Maghtab at our prime archaeological site.

One might perhaps try to find consolation in the consideration that the proposed landfill would not be the first or worst mistake committed at Hagar Qim. Admittedly this gem of a site has been subjected to worse misdoings than a mere two-year bout of organised dumping of rubbish.

For example, an eminent Maltese archaeologist writing more than 100 years ago bemoaned the systematic ransacking of Hagar Qim by high-ranking officials of the colonial administration and the British army, who pillaged the site for personal gain. Another "consoling" example might be the vandalism perpetrated at Hagar Qim just before the enactment of the Malta Heritage Act (2002). The landfill would not directly dislodge 60 megaliths in one night.

Thus the proposed landfill cannot aspire to qualify for the distinction of being a first or a worst; it may, however, qualify for the Culmination of Mistakes to Date prize.

While sincerely congratulating Minister Ninu Zammit for his energetic drive to take concrete action to implement facilities and practices for the final disposal of waste in compliance with current European standards, I entreat him to reconsider the misguided decision to locate the landfill, whether engineered or not, at the archaeologically sensitive site of the Hagar Qim temples.

The state has a constitutional duty to preserve our cultural heritage. The timely enactment of the Malta Heritage Act in the wake of the vandalism at Hagar Qim has indeed been a commendable initiative. Article 6 of this Act stipulates that "The safeguarding and promotion of the cultural heritage and the accessibility to it should be given a very high priority when public policy in all sectors of activity in Malta is about to be decided."

To my mind, experimenting with a landfill in the Hagar Qim area would definitely not "rehabilitate the area known as Ix-Xaghra tal-Maghlaq and Il-Qasam 1-Kbir... (and) ...further enhance the cultural, landscape and ecological value of this area" as the hastily drawn up "Project Description Statement - July 2003" would want us to believe.

Thousands, myself included, have signed a petition which was presented to the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives asking them to take the necessary action to stop the misguided initiative to locate the proposed landfill in the Hagar Qim area.

I would wish to think that we do not require foreign advice and pressure not to dump trash on our treasures.