Environment minister Jose Herrera today hit out at the “amateurish” pruning of 60 olive trees around the University track.

Dr Herrera called it shameful that such an incident was allowed to happen.

He said he had asked the environment and resources authority to investigate the incident and establish if there are regulatory shortcomings that needs fine-tuning.

“Similar incidents have occurred in the past and it seems that we have not learnt from them,” Dr Herrera said. He noted that the university had apologised for the incident.

In a statement yesterday, the university expressed disappointment at the outcome and said it was looking into this serious matter in detail to determine whether further action should be taken.

The contractor told the Times of Malta on Monday that the trees had never been pruned and had suffered neglect which led to fungal infection. He claimed he had taken care to prune as little as possible.

It said the olive trees had grown inordinately high and the upper branches had dried up.

On the new public domain law, Dr Herrera said he wanted to make sure the law is implemented in a structured manner together with the Opposition and NGOs.

He said the coast will automatically be classified as public domain and concession will only be granted after parliamentary scrutiny.