The fact that Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco had moved office to Hexagon House for two months had not solved the stench problem which the area is continuing to suffer, the Labour Party said today.

It said that comments by the parliamentary secretary, who is responsible for the environment,  showed that he appeared to be more interested in indirectly blaming a parastatal company than the operator of a private company who was recently taken to court.

His comment that he felt comfortable working at Hexagon House  was being seen as an insult to the workers and the residents of the area, who had been complaining of the inconvenience caused by the stench for years.

The party noted that Dr de Marco had not said anything about the fact that there had been days when the stench increased even when no oil products were being handled - the factor which he had blamed the stench on.

Neither had he said if proper monitoring of the environment permit was being made on a nearby waste oils treatment plant.

Dr de Marco was now expecting all workers to return to their place of work even though nothing had been solved and even though he had acknowledged that more could be done to improve ventilation at Hexagon House, the PL said.

The government, it said, needed to come up with a plan to really tackle this problem.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110423/local/Fumes-released-during-fuel-handling-main-cause-of-Marsa-noxious-odours.361831