The picturesque village of Għarb, Gozo, risks becoming a “dumping ground” for fireworks factories, according to its mayor, who fears the town could soon have seven of them.
“It seems like applications for fireworks factories are being redirected to our village,” said David Apap.
“There are two operational factories at the moment, another one which exploded a couple of years ago but which can become operational anytime, and two pending applications for new ones.
“We've heard of another two in the pipeline, which means that in a couple of years, Għarb could have seven of them. This is completely unacceptable,” Mr Apap told Times of Malta.
The council is at present battling the two pending applications, insisting that the Planning Authority should discard them and any other applications for more fireworks factories.
Having more of them would put farmers’ livelihoods at risk, further damage the locality’s tourism and cause even more harm to archaeological remains, including the San Dimitri Chapel, Mr Apap added.
We see trucks passing by, but we don’t know if the truck is carrying animals or explosives. Is this fair?
Just last July, the Planning Authority approved an outline development application for the construction of a new fireworks factory over an area of 4,700 square metres, just a stone’s throw away from two similar complexes that blew up in 2010 and 2012, claiming a total of 10 lives.
Despite being in an Outside Development Zone and on virgin land, the case officer recommended granting the permit, given that several security features were included in the plans. The permit was appealed and is still pending.
But the developers then went ahead and submitted a full development application for the fireworks factory in a different place, on virgin agricultural land between Landar ta’ Ġersika and another area known as It-Tafla z-Żgħira.
This site is also near the fireworks factory that blew up in 2012, killing four people, and another at which an explosion occurred in 2010, wiping out on entire family. In a consultative referendum held in 2010, residents voted against more fireworks factories being built in their locality. The referendum was called by the local council in the wake of the 2010 explosion, and 60 per cent of voters were against the granting of new permits.
Mr Apap said the council was not considering another referendum, as the result obtained seven years ago still stood.
“We even tried proposing our own by-laws, because the safety regulations are being violated to the detriment of residents, but the Local Government Department told us that there was no need for them, because there already were laws, rules and regulations,” Mr Apap explained.
He insisted more enforcement needed to be carried out, because residents’ lives were at risk.
“We see trucks passing by, but we don’t know if the truck is carrying animals or explosives. Is this fair? The authorities need to see to our safety too,” he said.