MEPA demands compensation from batching plant for environmental damage

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) has served Sammut Concrete Supplies Ltd. with a judicial letter holding it responsible for environmental damage caused from the seepage of cement residue from one of its batching plants in Wied Santa Katarina.

The Authority said it has given the owners of the batching plant five days to pay financial compensation for the environmental damage caused and submit to the Authority a method statement of how they intend to remove cement residue and rehabilitate the valley.

As a precautionary measure against any future spillage, the Authority is obliging the owners of the batching plant to build another silt trap immediately before the cement residue is discharged, installing new machinery that recycles cement residue and instruct his employees to cleanse cement accumulation and other associated by-products by a bobcat on a daily basis.

Last year the Authority had carried out a large scale exercise to rid the valley of dried concrete wash and once again allow the biodiversity within this valley to flourish.