The health impact of the proposed Delimara incinerator on Marsaxlokk residents has to be studied independently, the local council said, irked that it learnt of the project through the media.

People living in the south of the island were being treated as "second-class citizens" when it came to implementing projects that damaged the environment, the council complained yesterday.

It called for an environment impact assessment to be carried out by entities that were independent from the government.

The proposed €108 million incinerator was announced last week to deal with the annual increase in municipal solid waste; a project which, critics claimed, was the result of the government's failure to tackle waste reduction at source.

The proposal has also been criticised by the Committee Against the Sant'Antnin Recycling Plant, which said it was ironic that, because of the vociferous and persistent opposition from Marsascala residents, the project has now moved to Marsaxlokk.

The committee recalled that when it had said that the third stage of the project would include an incinerator, Wasteserv officials had denied it.

It criticised Wasteserv for failing to learn from the way it had badly handled the Sant'Antnin plant controversy by failing to consult on the two new recycling plants in Għallis and between Xewkija and Sannat.

It urged the Marsaxlokk council to resist the incinerator on its doorstep and called on councils in the south of the island to work together to secure a healthy environment for their residents.

Defending its position, the Resources Ministry said public consultation on the first revision of the waste strategy was open for eight weeks and it encouraged everybody to submit their ideas.

It added that the incinerator was never going to be built in Marsascala and the committee was trying to fool people. It said the incinerator was meant to burn the waste that could not be treated at any of the other plants.

The strategy document can be found on www.wastestrategy.gov.mt