The LPG depot in Birżebbuġa, an eyesore on the periphery of the seaside village, is to finally be dismantled.

The planning authority yesterday awarded a permit for the final phase of decommissioning and removal of about 20 LPG storage tanks and gas filling facilities in Qajjenza.

Built in 1959, the plant has been out of service for two years following the privatisation of gas bottling, previously carried out by State petroleum company Enemalta. It is situated in the immediate vicinity of a residential area.

All residual traces of LPG will be removed, rendering the network and storage tanks gas free.

The pipe network and storage vessels will be dismantled and the resulting scrap metal carted away by approved method.

The decommissioning will be carried by Gasco Energy, the private company which had taken over the gas bottling business from Enemalta.

In 2008, Enemalta and Gasco Energy, a joint venture between local company Multigas and Italy’s Liquigas, signed a concession agreement under which Enemalta transferred to them the management and operation of its liquefied petroleum gas activities.

Under the obligations set out in the agreement, Gasco Energy built a new LPG bottling and storage facility in a disused quarry in Bengħajsa. It took two years and an investment of €20 million.

The new depot was inaugurated in November 2012 and respects the EU’s stringent regulations for such facilities.

EU rules also obliged Malta to remove the old plant from Qajjenza due to its nearness to residences.