The Ramblers’ Association of Malta said today it found it "unbelievable and disquieting" that the Prime Minister has “secretly consented to sanction the illegal occupation of public land at Armier" in what it said was a pre-election gimmick.

"To add insult to injury, Enemalta is now proposing to build a substation estimated at €82,000 so that these illegal settlements can be better-served."

The Association said it was deeply hurt at how both large political parties were pandering to the unjustified demands of these "organised squatters" and said this was making well-behaved citizens feel like stupid losers for being upright and law-abiding.

The ramblers also noted that Qala Local Council was being given €10,000 out of public funds in order to conduct its own technical study into the proposed development of Hondoq ir-Rummien.

"RAM believes that such a proposed massive project in an ODZ area should not even have been considered in the first place. Why waste people’s time and money on such an abhorrent project? Is this just a gesture of appeasement, so that the government can then say that Qala residents were given the resources to combat this so-called development? The PM, now directly responsible for MEPA, had said, “ODZ is ODZ”. Or was this just pre-election talk? We still believe that the PM has the long-term good of the country at heart, and this project definitely does not fit the bill. It will simply contribute to the decline of Gozo as a pristine place, for both locals and visitors," the ramblers said.

In its statement the Association welcomed the new MLP leader’s declarations (made in the course of his interview on Dissett) regarding his proposed environmental course of action.

"We refer to his definitively excluding golf courses (this has been RAM’s policy all along) and to his defining the Hondoq ir-Rummien project as unsustainable. This too is perfectly in line with what our association and other Environmental NGOs have been repeating these last years. RAM now eagerly awaits an MLP policy statement on the Armier squatters," the ramblers said.