Farmers tilling the land at the picturesque area known as Ta’ Muxi in the limits of Qala, Gozo, are insisting that ongoing works carried out by the owners of a nearby quarry following a court order are just “a cosmetic exercise” to satisfy the Planning Authority.

In September 2013, after years of reports and procrastination by MEPA (now the Planning Authority), the Gozo Court found the owners of Road Construction, Victor Hili and Joseph Grima, guilty of illegal dumping at the area next to their quarry and fined them €10,000 each. The court had ordered them to remove all the rubble and reinstate the area.

However, despite that works are being continued, farmers are insisting that not all the rubble is being cleared but only some of it, to make the exercise appear that they are abiding by the court order.

“We are absolutely not satisfied with what is going on. They [Road Construction] are just removing the top part of the rubble and putting soil on the debris to make it look better,” an infuriated farmer told the Times of Malta.

“They have now cleared some pathways to build new rubble walls. By doing this they just exposed more of the rubble and building material they dumped illegally over the years”.

“We want them to remove everything and stop taking us and the authorities for a ride,” insisted another farmer, who inherited his land from his grandfather.

A spokesman for the Planning Authority said that it was not true that the job was not being carried out according to the court order.

“A method statement was approved in June 2015 which obliged the owners of Road Construction to reinstate the site which also included the reconstruction of the boundary walls and terracing of the area,” he insisted.

“The site owners are currently rebuilding the rubble walls using traditional methodology. The rubble used is being extracted from the site,” he explained.

Asked whether it was true that not all the material dumped is being removed, the spokesman said that this was not the case. “The remaining unsuitable material is being carted away to a licenced dumping site. The Authority is monitoring the area in order to ensure that the site is reinstated and the area returns to its original state.”

Asked whether they have informed the PA with their new claims, the farmers said that they did but the situation did not change. Efforts to contact Road Construction proved futile.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com