A cement company has insisted that its silo in Marsa is a state-of-the-art structure which uses the latest technology, making it the cleanest operation at the port.
UC Limited director Etienne Carabott has reassured the public that the silo which began operating on Thursday was completely sealed and posed “absolutely no dangers” to the public.
He claimed that the whole issue involving his company stemmed from the fact that it was entering the market where another company has been operating a monopoly for close to 40 years. It has 21 stevedores as its shareholders and they were dominating the market, he said.
Mr Carabott was speaking to Times of Malta on the fringes of court action initiated by his company to halt Mepa from stopping its operation on the basis of a claim it had no permit.
Kordin Grain Terminal Limited, the state-owned company operating the grain terminal, is also objecting to UC Ltd’s operation and has tried, twice unsuccessfully, to stop it from operating.
The latest warrant filed by UC Ltd against the planning authority on Thursday was withdrawn yesterday after the operation to transfer its first cement consignment was completed.
Earlier, Mepa’s legal representative, Robert Abela, told Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti there was no point in continuing the case since the operation had been completed.
UC Ltd can operate in all weather conditions since the cement does not come into contact with air, he said.
The company’s silo, with an investment of €3 million, can store up to 7,500 tonnes of cement. Mr Carabott said the adjacent grain terminal and the cement silo cannot operate simultaneously since both use the same berth so there can only be one operation at any given time.
He told Times of Malta during a site visit yesterday morning that the conveyor belt was open to the elements, including pigeons, and dirt from grit blasting at Dock Six just a few metres away.
UC Ltd is contending that the clearance given by Mepa in October 2012 – that it did not require any permit since it was considered as a normal port operation – was enough for it to operate. However, Mepa is arguing otherwise.
Mr Carabott said the quality of cement imported and its prices are better and more competitive. The company had invested in trucks which can be filled in a sealed environment.
Lawyer Adrian Delia, representing the grain company, told the court yesterday it was the only provider of grain storage on the island and that the terminal had stringent conditions to abide by as 75 per cent of the products it handles are intended for human consumption.
He said that traces of cement could jeopardise these products, placing the public’s health at risk. He submitted a report by two doctors who spoke of the public health risks involved if the grain is contaminated by cement, which is carcinogenic.
Meanwhile, another firm, Maypole Ltd, said in a statement that it imported its own grain and that its products were free of any possible risk of contamination.