The developers proposing the building of 24 apartments and 26 garages in Wied il-Ghasel, Mosta, today presented the Appeal’s Board of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority with a report saying that a traditional rubble hut in the valley was not as old as the non-governmental organisations were making it out to be and it did not appear on official survey maps.

A permit had been granted by Mepa last February after the application was originally refused in 2007. It was re-submitted, approved and immediately appealed.

Residents, supported by a number of NGOs, are up in arms against the development which they say was in an area listed as a nature reserve within the World Database on Protected Areas managed by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

They claim the area is classified as a Category III National Monument because of the traditional rubble hut (the girna) and rubble walls.

The residents and NGOs are contesting the developer’s statement and would be presenting their own evidence to support their arguments in the next sitting.

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