Yvette Camilleri, secretary for public relations of Palumbo Malta Shipyard Ltd, sought (February 1) to respond to my missive of January 28 wherein I conveyed the feelings of Cottonera residents regarding the negative effects on their health and living environment caused by the grit blasting method employed by the same shipyard.
Unfortunately, her reply was vacuous at best, misleading at worst. Needless to say, she had nothing to say regarding the fact that Palumbo were not allowed to operate in the fashion at issue in their own country and that was why they moved to Malta.
One must also keep in mind that this is the same company that managed to grab all the scrap metal left behind by the previous operator while the Maltese government was apparently looking away.
It seems the government is still trying to adopt that indifferent stance while the residents of Cottonera and the surrounding districts suffer on account of developments taking place in the area.
Ms Camilleri tells us “now that Palumbo Shipyard Ltd is running the docks, whenever grit blasting is used, mitigating measures are set in place before initiating operation and this is totally different from the previous approach. Before, no mitigation measures were applied”. Apart from the fact that this is only partly true, since when referring to the Drydocks one must specify which dock one has in mind, we are not talking about the past but about current times and the effects felt by the Cottonera residents at present.
Ms Camilleri seeks to placate these residents’ ire by telling us that “Palumbo is committed to continue to research other measures and methods in a process of continuous improvement”. However, Palumbo fail to tell us what those “mitigating measures” are.
The Cottonera residents who contacted their mayors and me are simply not comforted by the mere mention of these “mitigating measures”.
Nor have Palumbo hinted what “other measures” they are “researching”.
Until the people of Cottonera and the surrounding districts are satisfactorily informed on these scores, they will continue to lodge complaints with the authorities, namely Lawrence Gonzi’s government, to ensure that the negative effects of the methods Palumbo are employing be completely eliminated.
I would like to reiterate my full support to the Cottonera residents and look forward to a more reasonable approach being adopted by the government towards such a serious situation that is affecting the life of so many of our countrymen.
In the meantime, it would perhaps not be amiss to suggest that Palumbo would continue to discuss with the Malta Environment and Palnning Authority after having initially ignored this important institution and also communicate with the residents in the localities through their respective mayors.