Hal Farrug gas plant (1)

I refer to the item Gas Plant 140m From Fireworks Factory.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority would like to clarify that the site at Hal Farrug is still outside development zone. When a development is approved, by Mepa or by the Planning Appeals Board, the area is not automatically designated as being within development zone. Indeed, the case officer's report states that this is in line with the principle of development established by the Planning Appeals board and by a policy of containment of industrial areas within the draft South Malta Local Plan.

Moreover, a quick history of the site, as seen in the attached photographs, shows that what has been described as "...largely pristine countryside" was compromised way back in the 1970s with the dumping of debris from the excavations of the Red China Dock and the construction of a fireworks factory.

The impression that the application was somehow super-fast tracked is also gratuitous. The case officer's report, cited repeatedly by the correspondent, shows that the site was subject to a much litigated outline application submitted in 1996. Once this was resolved in 2004 by the Planning Appeals Board with a decision on the whole site, the full development application referred to did not have to take long to determine since all parties were timely in their responses. Mepa, in consultation with the relevant authorities, also considered the specific use of the plant and the hazard was not deemed to be of the nature the article seems to conjure.

Mepa would also like to point out that it carried out consultations required by the nature of the application. In this case the Civil Protection Department said that they had "no objection subject to the installation of a water deluge system, and fire hydrant at the entrance gate". The Civil Aviation Department said they had "no objection from the Obstacle Clearance Rights point of view". With these replies from the required consultees and from the comprehensive assessment of the application, Mepa decided this application in a public hearing well over a year ago.