The Environment Ministry has accused the opposition of trying to take credit for the closure of the incinerator at St Luke's Hospital.

It said in a statement that the incinerator would have been closed earlier had it not been for a series of events which obstructed the process.

It recalled that in August 2003 a company which had been awarded the tender for a new, clean non-burn waste disposal facility at St Luke's went bankrupt. A government committee then suggested changes to the new incinerator at Marsa so that it could eventually take hospital waste.

The ministry said the MLP had a poor environment protection record, as shown particularly by the way it had not done anything over the Maghtab dump. Furthermore, the MLP representative on the Mepa board had voted against and tried to stop the modernisation of the incinerator at Marsa. Labour MEP Joseph Muscat had also tried to instil doubts on the new Marsa incinerator, the ministry said.

It said the government had kept its promises to close the Maghtab dump and the St Luke's Hospital incinerator. The new Marsa incinerator was not only clean, but it had also substantially reduced running costs and it removed the need for more incinerators.

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