Any development at the former Birżebbuġa fuel tanks plant can only take place after the site is decontaminated, a former Enemalta chairman is cautioning.

Robert Ghirlando, an engineer, said the tanks would not only have to be dismantled but the land below them studied for any oil deposits from leakages.

The site was proposed by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil as an alternative location to Żonqor Point in Marsascala where Jordanian investors want to build a university campus – the American University of Malta – on virgin land.

The Birżebbuġa site was shot down by the government with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying it could only be ready in two years, creating a timing obstacle for the investors.

The fuel depot, known as the 31st March 1979 oil facility, is in the middle of a residential area and was used by the State energy company to store fuels.

Prof. Ghirlando recalled a case during his tenure as chairman when somebody living in the vicinity of the site had found oil when digging up the foundations of his house.

Seepages had caused oil pockets to form in the rocks below and an exercise known as bioslurping – an operation to suck oil up through boreholes – had to take place, he recalled.

“Enemalta had collected the oil and used it again,” Prof. Ghirlando said, adding the land would have to be studied and cleaned from any oil that could have seeped into the ground over the years. This process would only be possible after the tanks were aerated to ensure no fuel gases were present before they were torn down, he said.

Somebody living in the vicinity of the site found oil when digging up the foundations of his house

He could not put a timeframe on this process though. “The time it takes to decontaminate the site would depend on the ground test results once the surface tanks are removed.”

It is this uncertainty over the site’s prospective contamination that could pose a timeframe issue for the investors who cautioned that any university had a one-time window opportunity to open every year.

“If you miss that window it means you’re now facing an entire year’s delay and, like every business, there is a breaking point when a project doesn’t remain viable anymore,” a spokesman for the Sadeen Group told Times of Malta on Monday.

But using the Birżebbuġa oil depot may pose other problems because it covers 43,000 square metres – half the 90,000-square metres of land required by the investors – with no possibility of expansion because it is surrounded by houses. The fuel depot will be dismantled by Enemed, the State company that took over Enemalta’s petroleum division, as fuel storage is shifted to the underground facility at Ħas-Saptan, in the limits of Gudja.

Another former Enemalta site in Birżebbuġa, the liquefied petroleum gas depot at Qajjenza, which is no longer used, is even smaller, covering 23,000 square metres, although it is surrounded by fields on two sides.

This site will also have to be decontaminated but the process is likely to be less onerous than the fuel depot.

On Tuesday, Times of Malta reported that the Labour majority in the Birżebbuġa local council voted down a motion moved by Nationalist Party councillor Herman Schiavone for a feasibility study to be commissioned on the possibility of the project being housed in the locality.

Birżebbuġa mayor Kevin Barun told this newspaper the locality had nothing to gain from the university and residents wanted more open spaces not more buildings.

The primary objection to the Żonqor location is that the area lies outside the development zone and is pristine land earmarked in the 2006 local plan as part of a bigger natural park along the coastline.

Dr Muscat has called for alternative sites to be suggested but some environmental lobbyists have insisted the naming of arbitrary locations is a useless exercise since this is best done in a scientific way as part of a proper alternative site assessment.

Suggested alternatives

Birżebbuġa ex-gas depot
Area: Approx. 23,000 square metres.

It is no longer used as a depot after the gas division was privatised a few years ago and a new facility built at Bengħajsa. The property is surrounded on two sides by fields that could allow for expansion. The privately-owned San Luċjan fuel storage tanks are some 200 metres away.

 

 

 

Birżebbuġa 31st March 1979 oil installation
Area: Approx. 43,000 square metres.

This facility has long been slated for removal given its location in the middle of a residential area. A development brief for the site released by Mepa in 2005 had proposed redeveloping the site into a mixture of dwellings, open spaces, shops, catering facilities and possibly a language school.

 

 

 

 

Fort Ricasoli
Area: Approx. 65,000 square metres (inside the ramparts).

There are oil tanks outside the fort used by the oil cleaning operation in the area that would have to be removed if the university is to extend outside the ramparts. The place is also used by the film industry and one of the most notable sets constructed inside the fort was for the film Gladiator.

Note: The approximate land area has been calculated using the tool on Mepa’s online map server.

 

Did you know?

The Birżebbuġa fuel depot has a historical dimension to it having been present in the area before World War II.

According to former Enemalta chairman Robert Ghirlando one of the fuel tanks was patched up when it had been hit by machine gun fire during World War II.

“I am not saying the tanks should not be removed because of this but part of the metal sheeting with the patches should be retained in the war museum as a relic,” he said.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com