The government has once again shown that it has failed to implement measures in the 2001 solid waste management strategy which was presented to the European Commission. The government failed to close down the Maghtab landfill within the strategy's deadline and failed to open new engineered landfills by the first half of 2003.
Ta' Zwejra landfill and the proposed Mnajdra landfills never featured in the waste management strategy. Whatever semblance of strategy that may have existed has now been replaced by a series of desperate attempts based on ad hoc decisions. These decisions are taken outside the framework of EU law, without public discussion and environmental impact assessment.
George Pullicino (The Times, May 22) proves the point I made in my previous article, that the government has proceeded outside the framework of EU law by claiming that Ta' Zwejra landfill "does not require a development permit because it is situated within the precincts of Maghtab waste facility".
The government should know that according to EU law, dumping of waste at Maghtab landfill became illegal as from May 1. Consequently, any permit awarded to Maghtab (which according to the government covers Ta' Zwejra) to operate as a landfill is no longer valid.
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Mr Pullicino repeats the claim that the government kept its promise when it closed the Maghtab landfill on May 1. The Maghtab landfill remains open and operating in the area of Ta' Zwejra.
Meanwhile, the ideas and plans "vented" by WasteServ for the final closure of Maghtab do not abide by the Landfill Directive which sets a specific closure procedure. It seems that WasteServ is again working to dodge this EU directive.
Mr Pullicino has already dodged standards set in the EU Landfill Directive by claiming that Ta' Zwejra is a temporary waste storage site and, consequently, excluded from the objectives and requirements of the directive. Now that Mr Pullicino has invoked the temporary waste storage clause (although not in the context taken by the EU directive), he should confirm to the residents of Maghtab and the rest of us that the waste at Ta' Zwejra site will be removed after three years in accordance with EU law.
Removing waste will not be an easy feat bearing in mind that the waste dumped at Ta' Zwejra will not be separated waste. This implies that a substantial part of the waste remaining after three years will be hazardous because the non-hazardous component would have decomposed.
What provisions has Mr Pullicino taken for the disposal of this hazardous waste in a permanent hazardous waste landfill? None whatsoever! Will the government evacuate Maghtab residents during the removal of this waste because of health and safety considerations?
With these issues in mind, Ta' Zwejra landfill seems to be a very capricious and costly project that verges on the suicidal. But that is to be expected from a government that proposed to locate landfills next to a world heritage site!
Mr Pullicino also claims that "I have not kept in touch with developments taking place at Ta' Zwejra". Indeed, nobody really knows what is happening at Ta' Zwejra because the government has dodged all of Mepa's procedures and has not presented plans for public scrutiny.
We only know by hindsight that the PN administration has a record of incompetence, technically flawed plans and botched landfill designs produced by the same persons involved with WasteServ, the Works Division and regulatory authorities (that also gave "technical" support to the Mnajdra landfill proposal!).
The trickle of information being handed to the public about the concealed operation at Ta' Zwejra seems to point to a system of accelerated decomposition relying on the re-use of leachate. Whether this system will be successful in the local context remains to be seen. The most immediate effect of this method will be an unbearable stench from old leachate fed to the landfill.
The PN's environmental strategy is clear and consistent covering up incompetence and disasters in the environmental sector. The covert operations at Ta' Zwejra show that a cover up is being hatched in the waste management sector. This follows another cover up on the quality of tap water in five localities where the level of nitrate exceeds the EU limit for drinking water. In the past four years, the Water Services Corporation knew about the dangerous nature of this tap water but in full breach of EU law did not inform consumers.
All the oratory on the environment and the fine words about consumer rights from PN candidates for the European Parliament can never rectify the damage done to the environment and people's health in past years.
The root of the problem is the PN's modus operandi, which approaches any national problem from a distinctly provincial and partisan perspective. Rather than concentrate on the issues at hand, successive Nationalist environment ministers and their top civil servants have preferred to waste their energies in political pogroms culminating in unjust transfers of dissenting qualified personnel from boards and government departments.
Malta needs a new way of doing things. Those who believe that the EU will be a joy ride where problems are covered up are mistaken and can never defend the interests of Malta. Labour is prepared to offer a new approach to meet the challenges of the future within Europe.
Mr Mizzi is the Labour Party's main spokesman for infrastructural services.