What former environment minister Leo Brincat termed as the “biggest national project started and completed by the current administration” is still not fully operational despite a grand launch in February.
A spokeswoman for the Environment Ministry told the Times of Malta the commissioning phase of the Magħtab waste plant should be completed by the end of the year.
Mr Brincat had described the €50 million Magħtab waste plant as the biggest project started and completed by this government.
The plant is meant to treat municipal solid waste, which cannot be treated at the Sant’Antnin waste treatment facility in Marsascala, as well as animal husbandry waste.
Environment Minister Josè Herrera said in a parliamentary question last week that once the waste plant was commissioned and handed over to Wasteserv, waste would be treated before being transported to the Għallis landfill. That would serve to reduce bad smells in the area that have been the subject of endless complaints by residents over the years.
Odour neutralising agents were ordered in a bid to mitigate the smells
The Environment Ministry spokeswoman subsequently clarified that the plant had already been handed over to Wasteserv. The contractor was carrying out his supervisory obligation that ensured the plant ran as intended, she added. She said the contractor, together with Wasteserv’s engineers and technical staff, would go through all the intricate systems to ensure the plant kept performing as planned.
Yet, the spokeswoman pointed out, the plant was already treating a substantial amount of waste and would gradually accept increasing quantities to treat two thirds of the municipal solid waste generated on the island. The other third would go to the Sant’Antnin plant.
Nationalist MP Ċensu Galea conveyed to Parliament complaints by residents about more bad smells wafting from the area.
Dr Herrera informed Mr Galea that Wasteserv’s sniff testers identified odours from various areas when conducting weekly tests. Not all such smells necessarily came from Magħtab, the minister said. The sniff test literally involved a person going on the ground and sniffing out foul odours.
Sniff testing had been conducted by Wasteserv since January 2013 to determine whether any odours originating from the landfills at Magħtab were reaching surrounding areas and whether they were bothering residents.
The so-called ‘olfactory monitoring’ was carried out on the strength and characteristics of any odours, the intensity of which was then graded on a scale of one to six. One would be a ‘very weak’ odour while six is ‘intolerable’. Wasteserv would investigate further if any smells classified as abnormal were detected.
Dr Herrera said the bad smells from Magħtab and the Għallis landfill generally increased in summer due to the heat and prevailing wind conditions.
Odour neutralising agents were ordered in a bid to mitigate the smells, he said.