Cleaner air is the most appropriate gift from the Government in the Year of the Air, being celebrated internationally, Environment Minister Leo Brincat said yesterday.

“Clean air and environmental health are the priorities of this movement that is in Government,” he said at a meeting with the NGO Din l-Art Ħelwa.

He stressed that this will be achieved by the eradication of the “wound of heavy fuel oil” that “has so harmed our country”. He said the switch to gas will benefit everyone, “irrelevant of their political beliefs”.

Mr Brincat will meet environmental NGOs regularly and he did not want these to be merely briefing sessions but said they would also function as a suggestions platform.

Among the topics discussed were the changes envisaged to the structure of the planning authority, the future management of Majjistral Park and the National Environmental Policy programme.