Recycling plant's 'embellishment' (2)

Marco Cremona's letter (June 9) on Sant'Antnin comes as a big surprise. In this article the correspondent acknowledges that he did not participate in any public meetings nor reviewed any documents that have been placed in the public domain since July 2003. In the same article he blatantly accuses WasteServ Malta Ltd of a lack of consultation. Who are we trying to fool? Mr Cremona himself addressed two questions to our consultant during a public presentation on the subject earlier this year in our bid to communicate the project further.

Mr Cremona intends to put WasteServ in a bad light claiming that the company is misleading people about the integrity of the EIA process. This process is regulated by law and Mr Cremona has every responsibility to challenge the process before the competent authority.

As opposed to what Mr Cremona claims, WasteServ had numerous discussions about its proposals for Sant'Antnin. These were held with a number of organisations and stakeholders following invitations or requests for meetings made by interested groups. None of these were turned down. In fact, even the consultancy firm run by Mr Cremona himself had various opportunities to learn about this project due to meetings held.

Mr Cremona fails to mention that the Sant'Antin facility, already licensed to treat 83,000 tonnes of waste per annum and is destined in an agreed strategy for upgrading, is being put through an EIA as if the development is starting from scratch despite the fact that throughputs will be reduced to 71,000 tonnes. Mr Cremona, however, highlights the alternative site assessment as a farce rather then highlighting the benefits that a committed site offers.

Mr Cremona also reiterates that the EIA process should be transparent and that decisions should be taken with stakeholder participation. I sincerely hope the correspondent will find the courage to comment on the fact that the changes in the design between the first and the second draft EIA are as a result of the public participation that this organisation was so willing to take on board.

With regard to the remaining fraction of waste, that is, the 179,000 tonnes, Mr Cremona should not be surprised to find out that the review of the Solid Waste Management Strategy of 2001 is nearing completion and this will be issued for public consultation. In this document, one will have a very vivid interpretation of how Malta may indeed achieve the various targets in the relevant directives and what facilities are being proposed to achieve this. I trust that Mr Cremona, and indeed all those who have the environment at heart, will participate in this process to the full.