The noxious odours plaguing Hexagon House and Marsa residents were mainly caused by fumes released during fuel storage and bunkering, Environment Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said.
“It seems the source of the stench is fuel-related, which is not surprising... When certain ships are loading or unloading fuel, for example, fumes are released,” Dr de Marco said on Thursday, his last day at Hexagon House.
Last February, he decided to shift his office from Valletta to Hexagon House, in Marsa, after planning authority employees walked out in protest because of the smell.
Although he had originally planned to remain there for a week, Dr de Marco stayed longer, saying he found his stay “comfortable”. He had decided to move there to get “a closer perspective” of the complaints made by employees and residents.
“If there are complaints about Hexagon House, it is a reflection of a problem outside the actual building,” he said.
Equal importance had to be given to two issues: the work environment at Hexagon House and the condition of the Menqa in Marsa.
Residents and the Marsa mayor have long maintained the problem started when a waste oils recycling plant began operating there towards the end of the 1990s.
In 1995, the local council had commissioned University professor Victor Axiak to evaluate the potential impact of the plant when the permit was still being considered by the planning authority. His report had warned, among other things, of the possibility of “oil mists”.
A fuel bunkering facility is also located close by.
Dr de Marco said a team of experts was commissioned to take air quality tests both inside and outside Hexagon House while engineers were asked by the planning authority to examine the building’s ventilation system.
The samples were sent to a UK lab and the results sent to Emmanuel Sinagra, at the University’s Chemistry Department. These are being examined by the team of experts, headed by Prof. Sinagra, who come from the Environmental Health Department, the Health Ministry and the planning authority.
Dr de Marco pointed out that it was “not surprising” that the foul odours were linked to the fuel activity because the various companies present in the area dealt with bunkering, loading and unloading of fuel. “A number of these operations need mitigation measures such as the installation of a fumes recovery mechanism.”
This and other proposals are being discussed with the stakeholders involved “to agree on remedial measures that ensure the operator will not be a cause of concern”.
Also, all the necessary measures would be taken to upgrade the ventilation system at Hexagon House. A call for tenders would be issued shortly to install a system that did not allow noxious fumes into the building, he said.
The building houses various entities – such as the environmental health and the air quality monitoring unit – that are responsible for the environment. Dr de Marco stressed the importance of getting at the root of the problem without politicising it and having everyone on board. “As a government and authority we have a responsibility to the people who work and live close by. A big effort has been made to identify the sources of the problem,” he said.
Although he “definitely” smelt something outside, Dr de Marco did not say whether he got a whiff of any smells inside the building. “We are tackling the problem in different ways.”
Only two weeks ago, the police, on Labour MP Leo Brincat’s request, instituted criminal action against the waste oils recycling plant in Marsa after it illegally dumped oil-contaminated water in the sewage system. The case against the Carmelo Falzon, director of Waste Oils, a subsidiary of the Falzon Group situated near Hexagon House, started on April 6.