Quarries blamed for ill health in Attard

Several residents in Attard whose children are on medication to treat respiratory problems are blaming two neighbouring quarries for their conditions.

Marthese Said, whose home overlooks the Wied Incita valley in Attard, said yesterday she had to give her six-year-old daughter anti-asthma medication to treat incessant coughing and occasional wheezing.

She said yesterday after a press conference by the local council to highlight the situation: "Katryna started suffering from asthma when she was a baby."

Likewise, Claire Qoul spends nights awake with her two daughters, aged one and three. "They start coughing and cannot stop," she said.

Mona Galea's 20-year-old son started suffering from asthma four years ago, when the family moved to Attard.

"He never suffered from asthma before - it only started after we moved here," she said.

Yesterday they joined the Attard council and other residents, including Nationalist MPs Charlo Bonnici and David Agius, to protest against the quarries.

Standing in the street which separates people's homes from Wied Incita, councillor Marco Spiteri said that some 200 trucks transporting construction material used the street. According to resident Saviour Borg, some are not even covered.

"We want to avoid having a second Maghtab in Attard," Mr Spiteri said, pointing to the mountain of construction material that is visible from the street.

The council - which earlier this month filed two judicial protests against the authorities complaining that two construction companies have caused environmental damage to the valley - is disappointed that nothing appears to have been done to resolve the problem.

In the protests against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Lands Commissioner, the council claimed that the quarries were causing serious inconvenience to residents because the rock-cutting was whipping up a lot of dust. It also claimed that the owners were cutting rock outside the perimeter of the two quarries in the valley.

Alternattiva Demokratika councillor Ralph Cassar said an enforcement notice had been filed in 1994 after the construction of a room and a boundary wall was raised without permits. Since then, another six enforcement notices have been filed.

Mr Cassar said that last November Mepa wrote to the owners asking them to take action to reduce dust in the air, to immediately stop excavations outside the quarries' perimeter, lower the levels of the construction material and submit a full restoration plan of the quarry.

When contacted yesterday, a Mepa spokesman said the authority would be replying to the judicial protest in the coming days, while chairman Austin Walker had called a meeting with the local council before speaking to the quarry owners.

Quarry owner Mark Aquilina said he will be reacting to the protest next week since he is currently abroad. He said he would provide the documentation showing that the bridge had been sanctioned and that the digging was being carried out within the perimeters.