The Planning Authority is on Monday expected to approve an application for the construction of a new fireworks factory just a stone’s throw away from two similar complexes that blew up in 2010 and 2012, claiming 10 lives.

Despite being on outside development zone and on virgin land, the case officer is recommending granting the permit given that several security features have been included in the plans.

The site is about 500 metres from another fireworks factory that blew up in 2012, killing four people, and close to another where an explosion occurred in 2010, wiping out on entire family.

The application, originally filed by Raymond Cauchi and Ruben Camilleri in 2011, had been turned down a year later. However, an appeal was upheld and the application was sent back for reassessment in terms of the fireworks factory complexes policy.

In his recommendation, the case officer stated that the land at Landar ta’ Geriska was dry, not protected by a designation in a development plan and not located within borehole buffer zones.

No mention is made of a referendum held in 2010, when residents voted against more fireworks factories being built in their locality. The consultative 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.

The approval is likely to provoke the ire of not only the residents who voted against new fireworks factories in Għarb but also those who believe that virgin ODZ land should not be touched, especially since the land where the factory that exploded in 2010 was sited  is still in the same state.