Ramblers to embark on stronger campaign

The Ramblers' Association was yesterday fortified in its struggle to save the countryside with the approval of a statute and the election of its committee for the next two years.

Reconfirmed president Lino Bugeja said the association would be embarking on an action plan to highlight the current situation by resorting to all means and holding protests on sites where it felt that the law was flouted.

Foreign delegates attending conferences in Malta would be made aware of the chaotic state of land tenure in Malta where huge tracts were being sold to foreigners to the detriment of the local population, Mr Bugeja added.

"We take heart in presenting our grievances directly to the European Parliament through its Commissioner, backed by other environmental groups in Europe," he said.

Mr Bugeja said the association had been promised access to Fomm ir-Rih Bay through the old military road from the Ras il-Pellegrin side. But this turned out to be an empty promise.

The nine-month-old organisation had also initiated discussions with the Attorney General for the opening of pathways leading to the coastal cliffs in one segment of the island. But these discussions were halted abruptly with no explanation.

Mr Bugeja said the association was rudely admonished by a minister for not realising that the problems of the Maltese countryside were of a legal nature.

He said that when the association presented a petition to Parliament calling for a White Paper giving a legal definition to 'foreshore' and 'coastal zone' and asking for the publication of a definitive map of the Maltese Islands, the government mysteriously backed out at the last minute.

"We have not even received an acknowledgement for our petition, let alone consideration," he said.

The association felt aggrieved "by the insensitivity of those in the corridors of power who fail to give us hope of a better future in the form of a healthy lifestyle for our children.

"We have used all means of diplomacy, we have steered away from the political arena, we have given so much of our time and effort in the pious hope of even a crumb of achievement.

"To our utter dismay, the rape of the countryside continues unabated as we sadly witness more public land usurped by unscrupulous grabbers."

Mr Bugeja said that in the past 10 years, 45 pathways along the stretch of land from Gebel Ciantar along Dingli Cliffs to Migra l-Ferha were closed without authorisation.

"And this illegal dispossession continues with impunity, even in acclaimed areas of great historical and archaeological importance as described in government publications," he claimed.

The Ramblers' Association committee for the next two years is also made up of Alex Vella, Paul Micallef, Mario Tabone Vassallo, Joe Bugeja, Romano Cassar, Steve Bonello, Louis Vella, Andre Catania, Victor Martinelli, Carmen Vella, Frans Spiteri and Denise Catania.