Marsa mayor Francis Debono is unimpressed by the environmental permit issued to a waste oil company in his locality and does not believe the problem of foul smells will go away.

Just a month after the Hexagon House area in Marsa was enveloped by noxious smells emanating from a nearby company testing new equipment, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board last Thursday approved a recommendation by the Environment Protection Directorate to grant the company a one year environment permit.

According to Mepa, the permit granted to Waste Oils Company Ltd regulates the collection, separation and storage of waste oils from commercial, domestic and shipping operations prior to export and will address a number of environmental concerns in the area.

Without the permit, which applies to major heavy industries such as power stations, the company will not be able to operate. The application dealt with on Thursday was to extend a previous six-month permit.

However, for Mr Debono the regulator’s commitment to regulate operations in a strict manner was not enough.

“Public consultation on these matters is useless because Mepa decides what it wants. The authority ignored residents’ complaints when the waste oils company’s facility was first built and I cannot see a situation where it will refuse the company an environmental permit,” Mr Debono said.

Foul smells that on occasion polluted the area, he added, arose mainly when the comp-any was pumping oil into its tanks.

“Mepa takes its time to address residents’ complaints and people have generally lost trust in its ability to enforce its own regulations,” he said.

In the beginning of November, planning authority employees at Hexagon House were asked to work from home for a couple of hours after noxious smells filled the building.

Investigations by Mepa found the smells came from pilot tests on a new waste oil treatment plant owned by Waste Oils, a company within the Falzon Group. Odours subsided some two hours later and a Mepa spokesman said the company was making several improvements to its facility as required by its permit.

Hexagon House also had to be evacuated last year because of foul smells and one female staff member was retained in hospital for observation. Investigations had revealed Waste Oils was illegally dumping contaminated water in the sewage system, which the company, however, denied.