The south of Malta is renowned for its large concentration of scrapyards, which blight the landscape as mounds of haphazardly-piled up cars in fields in places like Birżebbuġa (the Wied Żembaq scrapyard is the most notorious), Għaxaq, Mqabba and Ħal Far.
The Roc-A-Go facility for end-of-life vehicles destined for scrapping, sited along the Tal-Barrani bypass which meanders between Tarxien and Żejtun, is one such facility. A number of farmers to whom the fields bordering the facility are leased claim that in recent weeks the Roc-A-Go facility owners have approached them and asked that they vacate the land they have been tilling for generations. Has this request been made with the aim of paving the way for the scrapyard to expand to the surrounding fields?
Agriculture in the south [is] slowly but steadily being elbowed out by scrapyards, batching plants, industrial warehouses, garages and shopping complexes
Last week, the owner of the vehicle scrapping facility upped the ante by placing a number of cars in the field bordering his property at the back end, furthest from the Tal-Barrani bypass. Due to lack of adequate access roads in the area, the owner presumably used a crane to do so.
In addition, a door has been carved out of the wall at the back of the scrapyard, providing direct access to the bordering fields. Spray markings on the same wall suggest that further unilateral action might be on the cards in the coming days.
No permits were granted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for these actions on site. Mepa’s enforcement section were alerted, and upon inspecting the site, the perpetrator was ordered to immediately close off the access door and to clear the fields from the illegally-deposited vehicles. One hopes that Mepa manages to clamp down decisively on further encroachment at the site.
The Roc-A-Go facility lies close to the Bulebel industrial estate, with the Tal-Barrani bypass bordered on both sides by an increasing number of industrial developments, especially on the Għaxaq side. If the facility is allowed to expand further into the surrounding fields, yet another notch would have been added to the increasing industrialisation of the area, with agriculture in the south slowly but steadily being elbowed out by scrapyards, batching plants, industrial warehouses, garages and shopping complexes.
www.alandeidun.eu
alan.deidun@gmail.com