Birzebbuga has been left out of noise maps submitted to the EU by the government, in what is further evidence that Birzebbuga residents are being treated as second class citizens, MEP Edward Scicluna said.

Speaking at an activity with the  Birzebbuga Environmental Action Group in Wied il-Buni, Birzebbuga, he said that the residents were being denied the right to negotiate and ask for compensation for the continuous noise pollution cause by Malta Freeport, as was established in EU directives.

He said that in the same way that the area between Valletta, Sliema and Cottonera was clustered together in order to meet the population requirements of the noise maps, the same thing could have been done for an area stretching from Marsascala to Zurrieq. The government could have also included the whole Maltese Islands as one territory for the scope of the noise pollution directive in urbanised areas.

In reply to Parliamentary questions submitted by Prof. Scicluna on the subject, the European Commission had stated that Birzebbug´s population was of 9,000 people and therefore the directive did not apply to that locality. The directive establishes that such noise must affect an area which includes at least 100,000 people.