Senglea residents are infuriated that there seems to be no end in sight to the loud noise from works at night at Palumbo shipyard, which is keeping them awake most nights.

“I don’t live right on the bastions and yet I’m up all night because of the noise. I cannot begin to imagine what those living closer must be going through every night,” said Senglea resident Anna Spiteri – who is also the spokeswoman of the Senglea Residents Association, SeRA.

Ms Spiteri said the noise from operations, believed to be coming from low- and high-pressure blasting, was more obvious at night as it was not drowned out by other noise pollution.

Last week, a Cospicua resident, Joe Busuttil, made a heartfelt appeal to the authorities to address the noise and dust situation in the areas close to the shipyard, saying he was suffering from health problems as a result.

An asthmatic, Mr Busuttil said he had to use inhalers three times a day as he was always out of breath as the dirt made his condition worse.

He said other Cospicua residents were complaining about the dire situation but were reluctant to speak up.

That was not the case in Senglea, Ms Spiteri said, and she has already been approached by a number of residents who complained of the unbearable noise at night. “The residents are frustrated. We often call the police but they tell us that, unless they hear the noise themselves, there is nothing they could do,” she said. 

Ms Spiteri said the noise was sometimes so bad that her balcony doors rattled. 

Meanwhile, Palumbo’s management denied that any loud noises could be heard, saying that there were no such operations being carried out at the moment.

“On Wednesday, police were here at 11.50pm and they heard nothing. The only works carried out at night were painting jobs, welding and cleaning of machinery,” a spokesman for Palumbo said.

General manager Joseph Calleja reiterated that there had not been any pressure-blasting works carried out at night, saying there had only been what he described as “normal activity” in recent days. 

He said Mepa officers regularly carried out inspections and would visit the shipyard “almost every day” and “sometimes” even visited at night.

Questions sent to Mepa about the inspections were not answered by the time of writing.