€10,000 bank guarantee lost

The government company responsible for the Dock One works in Cospicua has lost a bank guarantee of €10,000 after it dumped mud in the sea earlier this month, the planning authority has confirmed.

Mepa found the company breached two permit conditions

The incident happened on February 2 and was reported by The Times two days later after it was alerted by a photographer who took an aerial shot of the mud plume in Dockyard Creek.

The newspaper passed on the photo to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, prompting an official investigation of the incident.

Construction work in the Dock One area is being carried out by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, a government company. The incident was caused by the contractor entrusted with the job.

A Mepa spokesman said apart from losing €10,000 the company now has to top up the bank guarantee to the original amount of €23,000.

The corporation said that the penalty imposed by Mepa was being paid by the contractor “as an omission of responsibility”.

“The contractor has been warned in writing about the incident and therefore GHRC as the administrator will in turn claim the penalty imposed,” a company spokesman told The Sunday Times.

Inspectors from Mepa’s enforcement directorate found that the company breached two permit conditions when the contractor pumped muddy water that seeped into the foundations of the proposed seafront quay to the sea.

“The Mepa board decided to forfeit €10,000 from the bank guarantee imposed as a permit condition in PA2002/09,” the spokesman said.

According to one of the permit conditions imposed on the company dust and mud from the construction site should not contaminate adjacent areas, particularly the sea.

The company was obliged to install underwater dust suppression equipment such as dust curtains, if necessary, before starting any demolition and construction activities adjacent to the sea.

A second condition breached by the company stated that runoff from stockpiling areas had to be “collected and intercepted so as to avoid contamination of the sea”.

When the incident came to light the corporation had said the project management team stopped the dumping as soon as it was alerted.

The contractor apologised and assured the corporation he would not resort to such action in the future.

The project, costing some €7.5 million partly funded by the EU, is expected to be concluded by April.

It will see the whole stretch of Xatt ir-Risq, as the area is known, from Vittoriosa to Cospicua being transformed into an open area for residents.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com