City Gate rally starts at 10 a.m.
Din l-Art Ħelwa, one of the major environment NGOs, will not be taking part in Saturday's rally because it is "sadly flawed" on an issue of fundamental importance to the entire country.
The rally is being held in protest against environmental abuse and lack of legal enforcement.
The NGO's crucial point of departure from the stand of the eight rally organisers has to do with the regeneration project for the entrance to Valletta, which, the rally promoters claim, is in violation of the Structure Plan.
DLĦ disagrees with this major point, highlighted in its poster, according to its newly-appointed executive president, Petra Bianchi.
The other NGOs maintain that the project violates the Structure Plan in that ministries and Parliament can only be sited in an auberge or palace in Valletta.
"But DLĦ cannot agree, on grounds of common sense and practicality, that Parliament and the ministries must necessarily be sited only in these locations," Dr Bianchi said.
Furthermore, and in seemingly contradictory statements, the idea was being advanced to house Parliament in a new construction over the Main Guard, at Fort St Elmo, or in the Mediterranean Conference Centre, all of which are not auberges or palaces of Valletta, she pointed out.
"Even if this interpretation of the Structure Plan were correct, a fact about which the NGO is not convinced, DLĦ has campaigned incessantly for changes to environmental or heritage legislation that is inadequate or outdated to bring it in line with what the country's interests require.
"This is the action DLĦ would advise, given the importance of the Valletta plan, and not the abandonment of a project of this magnitude on such spurious grounds," Dr Bianchi continued.
On the other hand, the NGO said it was in full agreement with the need for better enforcement and the urgent challenge of improving the poor state of Malta's environment, points being raised at the environment rally.
DLĦ stressed that its agreement with the other NGOs was reflected in its four resolutions, focusing on the island's dwindling resources of water, limestone and fish stocks and the toxic state of air pollution, approved at its recent annual general meeting and presented to the government.
The rally is being organised by BirdLife Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth, Greenhouse, Moviment Graffitti, the Malta Organic and Agricultural Movement, Nature Trust and the Ramblers Association.
It starts at 10 a.m. from City Gate.