Controversial Mġarr petrol station plans approved by Mepa

Steve Zammit

Aug 12th 2011, 14:10

Yawn

mariella bellorofonte

Aug 12th 2011, 22:57

Well said Mr Deidun, from an eyesore practically they would be replacing it with a less shabby looking polluting machine for our much "respected environment!"

Joe Brincat-LL.D

Aug 12th 2011, 13:06

Dear Astrid, you mention that there was an opinion that does not cause any "visual impact". It all boils down how you look at it. If it on an architects plan laid on a table, and you kneel down next to the table at the level of the top, I can assure you there will be no visual impact !!!!!

Joe Fenech

Aug 11th 2011, 23:13

Why do people like you waste their time with Malta? MALTA IS A HOPELESS CASE and nothing will change it.

Mr Paul Abela

Aug 12th 2011, 07:00

It stinks - to high heavens!
Ms.Vella it really stinks whenever you put your nose in it.
''As usual I am not against removing the Petrol Station from the Mgarr Square BUT,BUT & BUT.''
As usual since you own your own house you don't want others to built theirs.

Carmel Cilia

Aug 12th 2011, 07:22

Miss Vella thanks for what you are doing but you must by now have realised that the hidden hand behind MEPA was and is still there. In Malta hypocrisy is the name of the game. They say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Twenty five years in power corrupts the most innocent of minds.

Mr Victor Laiviera

Aug 11th 2011, 19:11

The Government has the power to requisition private land when it is required for public purposes, on payment of adequate compensation.

And it makes use of this power very frequently.

Paul Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 18:31

Alicia, what 'plausible environmental approach' can be taken by a permit allowing a petrol station plus showroom, plus car wash, plus vehicle showroom in an out of development zone which includes 2 giren, and is just 250m away from the Ghajn Rihana water catchment?

Move the petrol station out of the main square by all means, but to a sensible alternative location, not simply to a ODZ site that the petrol station owner bought cheaply.

Julia Cauchi

Aug 11th 2011, 18:51

Mr Paul Borg, Please note that in the area allocated there are no ''giren'' !!! Do you have a site plan of the new petrol station so you can check it out.... :)

Astrid Vella

Aug 11th 2011, 19:07

Miss Cauchi maybe you should visit the site yourself - the photo on yesterday's article was shot in this field. Patri Mikiel Fsadni featured this picture in his popular book 'Il-Girna-Wirt arkitettoniku u etniku Malti '. on page 69. Another Girna found on this site is featured in the same book on page 74. Shame on everyone involved in this relocation.

Mr Karl Attard

Aug 11th 2011, 21:51

Alicia from an environmental perspective I am at a loss as to how you can 'fully understand the diverging arguments'. Is there even a single plausible argument for relocating to this particular site?

Alan Deidun

Aug 12th 2011, 06:28

I know of a number of Mgarrin who are similarly outraged by the development but are coy about speaking out since the village is still governed by a sort of stigma which befalls anyone who decides to go against the flow - i.e. against the will of the majority - even all the local councillors have to toe such a line since their opposition to the development would certainly mean an end to their political future, and by this I am referring to bi-partisan politics and not to just one faction.
Ms Said - its easy to see the correlation between boathouses and the petrol station - some have said that since the majority of the Mgarr people want the development, then this must happen - I reiterate, if the majority of the Mgarr people want the Gnejna boathouses, should these stay????
Zebbiegh is going down the same lane taken by other former hamlets, like Bahrija, Bahar ic-Caghaq, etc with some , like Bidnija and Wardija, fast catching up - such hamlets are fast being gobbled up by the surrounding urban fabric as their residents, formerly exclusively farmers, clamour for more and more facilities - thus, Zebbiegh is fast looking like a suburb of Mosta.
I agree with those saying that it is a farce that the Mgarr Local Council has its own environmental committee and which simply promotes the planting of trees, the frawli festival, etc, so as not to rock the boat

Alicia Said

Aug 12th 2011, 07:56

@ Karl - I can fully understand the diverging arguments since I am an Mgarr resident and I have an environmental conscience.. As opposed to a number of posts (flawed comments) being conveyed in this thread I have to face the chaos present in the square on a regular basis since a petrol station in the heart of the Mgarr square is not practical at all.. The relocation of the new petrol station will surely impose a visual impact however it will displace the regular turmoil present in the square..
@ Paul Borg 'Plausible environmental approach' - using impermeable matter to prevent any fuel discharge into the Ghajn Rihana water catchment...

Mr Karl Attard

Aug 12th 2011, 14:25

Alicia I grew up in Zebbiegh and my family still lives there.

I don't think anybody is arguing the relocation of the petrol station- I certainly am not- but as a person with an environmental conscience you should be well aware that supporting the development of a garigue area is nothing short of an indictment of one's environmental literacy.

I fear the people in favour of the relocation to Triq L-Imgarr (which isn't a relocation at all but a huge transmogrification) are just thinking in terms of 'L-aqwa li mhux fuq l-għatba tiegħi'.

Alicia Said

Aug 12th 2011, 08:01

Ma nafx minn fejn gietek l-idea li Kummissjoni Ambjent Mgarr ihawwel is-sigar!!! Ahjar tkun taf il-fatti qabel timplika u tghaffeg fil-kliem!! Barra minn hekk nixtieqek tinfurmani dwar sitwazzjonijiet ta' art pubblika li ntilfet ghal dejjem gewwa l-Imgarr..

Mr Adrian Borg Cardona

Aug 11th 2011, 18:02

Ms Vassallo: your blind politial comments have been noted - there is no need to show us that you do not even bother to read what others say. Kindly note that the NGOs have said clearly that they are not against relocating the petrol station to outside the built up area - but only to an area which is already disturbed. Of course, your darling government is always happy to see pristine, unused land being used for commercial purposes, right? Because in this country, money comes before anything else.

Mr Ivan Calleja

Aug 11th 2011, 18:48

Ara vera ma tisthix tikteb well done MEPA!!! u takkuza lil Nature Trust!! Missek tisthi!! L-anqas biss fhimt l-argument taghhom!! Biex tara kemm int brava!!! Remove your blinkers please!!

Steve Zammit

Aug 11th 2011, 19:32

Well done MEPA?

Joke of the day

Franco Farrugia

Aug 11th 2011, 21:10

@ Ivan Calleja: Din 'Maria Vassallo' hija l-ahhar zieda fil-grupp ta' apologisti li iktar jaghmlu hsara milli gid!

Paul Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 17:52

Mr. Micallef, while we agree wholeheartedly with your concerns, I'm sure you're well aware of all the disturbed sites on the outskirts of every village in Malta. Surely you agree that they would be a much better location than a green field channeling water to a reservoir, where both protected garigue and giren are to be found.

Mr Adrian Borg Cardona

Aug 11th 2011, 18:03

Petrol statuins should move out - but why add a showroom, etc? Is this a tit-for-tat arrangement between MePA and the petrol station owner? This is what it looks like to me.

D M Grech

Aug 11th 2011, 17:05

All the time

Mr david debattista

Aug 11th 2011, 16:03

Make a change , Stop abuse, Save our environment Join the FAA

Mr Joe Gatt

Aug 11th 2011, 17:13

So they will build in an ODZ,

But no one is obliged to use their services, unless one wants to.

One has the option not to use their services, if one objects.

Simply boycot businesses that are built in ODZ.

Spend your money where the business respects the Environment,

Mr Mike Farrugia

Aug 11th 2011, 15:56

Two wrongs don't make a right. ODZ from all places?

Mr david debattista

Aug 11th 2011, 16:05

Make a change , Stop abuse, Save our environment. Join the Faa

Mr Jowey Brownie

Aug 11th 2011, 16:18

Yes that's right what about the petrol station in the middle of the square at Naxxar

Steve Zammit

Aug 11th 2011, 19:40

Re: ''Dawn il-petro stations fl-abittant għandhom jiġu rilokati kollha barra l-abitat. ''

Ok so lets also relocate the small petrol station found in the main square at Haz-Zebbug

Make sure its built in an ODZ, preferably in prisitne unspoilt land, destroying a girna and some Carob Trees in the process. Whilst you are at it, also include a show room, a workshop, a car wash, a jet wash and parking spaces too. When ready, make sure that an olive tree or some palm trees are planted, so one can say that the environment was taken into consideration! Oh give us a break

I'm not against the moving of the petrol station. But to built it in an ODZ, and on pristine land is pure madness, all this when the closest petrol station is just 3 km away. Why cant they use any other disused warehouse or space in Mgarr itself instead !?!

Steve Zammit

Aug 11th 2011, 15:40

Emma I think you are not getting the point ! Alan Deidun is not against the re-locating of the petrol station. I think practically everyone agrees on that. What he and others like myself are trying to point out is why should virgin land be sacrificed when the petrol station could be easily built in one of the abandoned existing depots and construction scraps instead?

ODZ is an ODZ...whats the point of having an ODZ and one can still build in it? Why can't we build in the existing perimeter? Why do we always have to expand?

Come on, it isn't just a petrol station !! + ''showroom and workshop, a car wash, a jet wash and a parking space'' and its built on ''2,406 square metres of AGRICULTURAL land.''

Get it?

Alan Deidun

Aug 11th 2011, 16:07

Good for you ms balzan. Next time you are happily splashing round in the new car wash to be developed, just spare a thought for the ghajn rihana catchment area and reservoir, just 250m and down the slope from the approved site. Experience teaches us that local authorities lack the resources and manpower to monitor compliance with permit conditions on a continuous basis. Siting a petrol station and workshop just 250m from a water catchment area is tantamount to throwing oil at ta kandja. My house is at least 3km from the nearest petrol station. I will start thinking of petitioning my own village MEPA sub committee to get me a station just outside the village, since each village seems to want to have mepa powers delegated to itself. The owner twisted mepa ARM perfectly by illegally expanding the scrapyard close to the square and then only agreeing to clearing everything if he was given an alternative andc BIGGER site. Chapeau, you have been conned mgarr by this sleight of the hand

David Battistino

Aug 11th 2011, 14:52

Mr Deidun, who is so naive to hand out his depot to somebody else to build a pumping station on it?
if they know that a permit may be issued they would keep it for themselves.
I agree with you that you were 'the one to successfully push for the eviction of the caravans from Gnejna bay' (I know, as you well know, that I was with you all the way about it) but does that mean you are always right in your envirolmental opinion?

I rest my case and leave it to the competent authorities.

Mr Victor Laiviera

Aug 11th 2011, 15:48

Sadly, Mr Battistino, the authorities involved seem to be singularly INcompetent - or worse.

Mr John Portelli

Aug 11th 2011, 16:21

Mr. Battistino,

Your comment is very unfair on Dr. Deidum. He has always worked in the interest of all. What I cannot understand, and I do not know if you have any interest in it all since you are from Mgarr, why should one that has been in breach with the law, since 1996 get rewarded to the porkerija that he inflicted in the area.

Though you might have an explenation?

David Battistino

Aug 11th 2011, 18:25

@ John Portelli - I was not going to reply but since you have or may implied that I 'have any interest in it all since you are from Mgarr' I had no other option.

1. My sole interest today is like all Imgarr residents as you well pointed out, no more and no less. Today life has changed and the traffic flow entering the picturesque village square doesn't help that bit the environment. Like it was pointed out during today's MEPA meeting (to which I was present) visiting tourists and Maltese residents, point out to the environmental eyesore that we have next to a green protected area unique in Malta. I don't want to go into the merits of who permitted such to happen but surely something had to be done.

2. When I was in a position to decide (having served for 9 years as a member of the Mgarr Local Council) I did vote against structural upgrading (a canopy) above the petrol pumps situated in the village square -and this is minuted.

3. If you had been at the MEPA meeting, you could have heard the Chairman's statement that an outline development permit was already issued in 2005 and 'that one cannot go back in time and change things'.

All I am seeing is, that today a balance has been struck, between the environmental gain in the core village area and that being lost on the periphery. That the developer's right to his private business covered by a valid Licence, has been met and last but not least that the Imgarr residents will be served better.

Paul Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 17:58

And since when are all conditions even imposed in Malta, let alone adhered to?!

Alan Deidun

Aug 11th 2011, 14:22

how paternalistic and blinkered - the people of Mgarr know what's best for them - yeah, this reminds me of the MEP campaign over 2 years ago when, during a visit to the village, I was confronted by a contractor who was illegally using his fields to dump scrap and rubble of all sorts - if it were up to some residents of Mgarr, the village would be overcome by dumping and construction sites of all sorts. What's the opinion of the Mgarr people about the Gnejna boathouses? Do they condone them as well, especially since most of them are occupied by individuals from the locality?

May I remind you that I was the one to successfully push for the eviction of the caravans from Gnejna bay

Franco Farrugia

Aug 11th 2011, 16:11

I think you have very feeble opinions, for all you claim to be 'very educated' whatever that entails. I have already criticised you yesterday over the news item on dead birds that were found. I have a feeling that you are trying to tell us that these things are not important. Please, put that nose of yours down and see the things that are extremely important for the natural environment.

Albert Ostimani

Aug 11th 2011, 13:11

You remind me of Master Yoda (Star Wars) :)

Mr Peter Murray

Aug 11th 2011, 17:42

And here was silly me thinking it was a car!

Mr Darby Allen

Aug 11th 2011, 14:15

Perhaps they think no one will notice, it being the height of the holiday/tourist season!

Mr Adrian Borg Cardona

Aug 11th 2011, 18:08

Because it's the height of the silly season!

D Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 12:51

the issue is not about getting the fuel station away from the main square .....(practically everyone agrees on that)

the issue - and MEPA's (i.e. government's own spineless stand) - relates to so called 'development' on a supposedly 'hands-off' ODZ.

Fuel stations should be stationed at the periphery of some villages/town and (preferably) adjacent to industrial areas/garages.

David Battistino

Aug 11th 2011, 13:52

@ D Borg - exactly that is what has been approved a petrol station at the PERIPHERY of the village. Still reachable by the 119 Full time (largest group of full time farmers in Malta) and 357 Part time farmers without having to travel at least 5km to the nearest petrol station each time they have to fill the agricultural machines with fuel (you may well know that it is illegal to store fuel at one's own premises) . It is also to be noted that if the developer has a valid licence to operate a petrol station he should not be penalized by not permitting him to reallocate if the current site is no longer appropriate by today's health and safety standards.

Victor Pulis

Aug 11th 2011, 13:52

The people of Mgarr agreed that the present petrol station should be removed from its present position and they seem to have stopped there. The protest is about the relocation to an ODZ.

D Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 14:33

Mr. Battistino
I do not live in Mgarr but I pass through it twice daily....
I trust you know that there are areas WITHIN the periphery of the village (but NOT ODZ), that can be used as a fuel station.....

Alan Deidun

Aug 11th 2011, 12:02

tohrog sar-Rabat? 3km away you have a spanking new petrol station at Ta' Buqana near Chadwick Lakes - with such an approval, you will have a traffic and accident hazard, not to speak of further uptake of ODZ land - Mgarr is fats becoming the wild west in terms of planning in Malta, with all the fields used for the dumping of construction debris and plonking of heavy machinery - the village is literally peppered with alternative disused sites where the petrol station could have been housed - lets wait to see how well and truly the present site is cleared of all the scrap and junk

Romina Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 14:15

Kuntenti l-Imgarrin kuntent kulhadd f'dan il-kaz nimmagina? Huma jafu xinuma il-prioritajiet tagghom.

Albert Ostimani

Aug 11th 2011, 15:58

Skuzi ta, il-prijoritajiet taghhom jistghu jaghmlu hsara lill-ambjent Malti u l-ambjent dinji. l-prijoritajiet ta` kulhadd insomma.

Romina Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 16:57

Tajjeb ukoll, mela postijiet ohra jistaw jsiru dawn il-bidliet imma min joqghod l-Mgarr hemm bzonn li johrog barra mir-rahal ghal fuel? 3km,5km, hemm kemm hemm... mhux l-ewwel darba li smajna b'ahbar bhal din go dil-gzira, u xorta baqaw addejin bil-prioritajiet taghhom ehe.

Paul Borg

Aug 11th 2011, 18:04

As long as the Mgarrin are content you say? Have you bothered to think of the effect of petrol residues in the water you drink from at Ghajn Rihana? Does that make you content? As usual we can't see beyond our noses. We could have moved the petrol station to a site where it would not have harmed anything but the main thing is that the abuser and his architect got their way.

Doreen Rizzo

Aug 11th 2011, 13:28

Bandli !!! What bandli ??? Hemm missu mar is-Sindku. Ma kellux boghod, kemm jaqsam it-triq. It-traskuragni u l-periklu li hemm huma tal-biza'.

Steve Borg - Marsascala

Aug 11th 2011, 12:28

X'kuxjenza?