Mepa enforcement action in Rabat, Luqa and L-Aħrax

A large dilapidated structure which was illegally built in the sensitive countryside area of Ta’ Gerzuma, at Rabat, has been demolished by enforcement officers of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa).

This illegal structure was built and abandoned in the mid-1990s and was subdivided into two rooms. During the demolition operation, Mepa also removed some scrap material which had been dumped along the country track leading to it.

The site, which forms part of Wied Gerżuma was, in 1998 scheduled for its archaeological importance. The area is a buffer zone for the Il-Qlejgha Bronze Age Village, the Kuncizzjoni Megalithic Temple and the Punico Roman remains located at Ras ir-Raheb. The site is also a proposed Level 2 Area of Ecological Importance for the karstland that supports a mosaic of garigue habitats.

Mepa said that this week it also sealed off three large sites where construction waste was illegally being dumped. These sites included a scheduled area in l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa close to where the Authority carried out a similar direct action last week and in which the same contractor was involved, and at two sites in Mtarfa.

Enforcement personnel also started demolishing a number of illegally built rooms in a field in Lija but were stopped by a Court prohibitory injunction.