Air pollution exceeding EU limits

I was quite surprised to read that Lija's air pollution exceeds EU limits (November 23). No one passing through Lija would have ever imagined that such a situation could exist in such a place. I must congratulate Michael Zammit for bringing this issue to the local and EU authorities' attention.

One would naturally wonder, if Lija is not in conformity with EU legislation on the levels of pollution which seem to be caused by one single factory, what about practically all localities in the industrialised south of Malta? Surely the levels of dust and noise pollution in these localities exceed by far those in Lija.

The south is not only polluted by the dust and noise emitted by the building industry, also concentrated in these areas, but also with emissions from the power stations, the airport, the dockyards, the recycling plants, the various factories, the daily long traffic jams, and other pollution generating entitles.

I wonder if the localities situated in the south would be in line with EU laws. Surely those like me, who live in these areas, would agree that the levels of pollution in our habitat are definitely higher. There are also professional studies that prove the degraded environment in these areas. The commission also states that, "an air pollution abatement plan, prepared by Malta, did not manage to deliver compliance". Reading this line would naturally raise a few questions such as: If the government, which is elected to guard the citizens' interests, commissioned such a plan which did not give the expected results, what is its competence level?

Is there such a plan for the so very polluted south of Malta? If there is, what is the outcome? If a plan for such a small problem in Lija, compared to the astronomic problems of the localities in the south, has failed miserably, one would wonder how successful a plan commissioned by the same authorities for the south, if existent, would have been.

As a citizen living in the south, I demand explanations from the local authorities. This is a question of competence of those who are supposed to be safeguarding the citizen's interests.

If they are not competent to deliver on such a serious issue such as our health, then they must be changed.