The school football pitch in Mqabba that was damaged when a quarry wall collapsed has been rebuilt a few metres farther away from the sheer drop.
It has not been re-positioned as originally recommended by experts, sideways to the quarry, but the Education Ministry assured The Times yesterday that it was safe.
“Although the orientation of the pitch was not changed, it was rebuilt further away from the damaged boundary wall and the same expert who drew up the site assessment report and made the recommendation has certified it as safe,” a ministry spokesman said when asked why the recommendation to rotate the pitch by 90 degrees was ignored.
The primary school’s artificial turf pitch has been moved some metres away from its previous location and a chain-link fence erected to stop students from venturing into the damaged area.
The ministry said the distance from the collapsed boundary wall was long enough to make the pitch safe for use. “It will shortly be used by the Mqabba local council for some activities it will be holding,” the spokesman said.
A 12-storey quarry face collapsed on February 28 and the geological study established that this was partly caused by the rubble and soil used as filling material for an adjacent quarry and on which the school’s football pitch was built.
The report insisted that the structural integrity of the school building was not affected by the collapse because it was built on solid rock.
The pitch was built about three years ago by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools in a field on the grounds of a reclaimed quarry. The field was surrounded by a deeper and much larger quarry on two sides and the steep rock face abutting onto the quarry was characterised by natural faults.
Quarries dug side by side are normally separated by a thin rock face. In this case, the filling material of the disused quarry, composed of rubble and soil, caused pressure on the thin skin of rock and contributed to the collapse.
The situation was further compounded by an underground room roofed over with arches and stone slabs, which was possibly used as a water cistern. Pressure from the filling material resting on the room’s ceiling may have caused the room to cave in, the study reported.
The ground on which the football pitch was built is unstable. According to the report it will be completely safe when the adjacent quarry is filled up and pressure from the dumped material beneath the school grounds will be neutralised.