Fireworks are not everybody’s cup of tea but Għargħur mayor Ġiljan Aquilina asks for his village’s deep-rooted tradition to be respected. He speaks to Kurt Sansone about budding social tension as the village grows.

It is a hot June afternoon and Għargħur’s main square is bathed in sunlight as six elderly men sit at the tables outside the band club.

Across the road workers are carrying out restoration works on the parish church dedicated to St Bartholomew.

Hanging from a balcony of one of the houses in the square is a poster from the spring hunting referendum campaign two years ago urging people to vote in favour of traditional pastimes.

This is where I meet Mr Aquilina, a 23-year-old accountancy graduate, who has been busy on Facebook and beyond answering concerns about an expansion of the village’s fireworks factory.

The St Bartholomew Fireworks Group obtained a planning permit for a proposed extension to its factory in Wied id-Dis a day before the election, drawing controversy along the way.

Read: Controversial fireworks factory permit issued on eve of election

Some residents protested at the expansion but the Għargħur council decided there were no grounds to appeal the decision since it fell within the parameters of existing policies.

Mr Aquilina says the vast majority of Għargħur residents have supported the expansion, adding that, at a meeting organised for those who expressed concern over the project, about 50 people turned up with only a dozen of them living in Għargħur.

The controversy has had different shades to it. Some have protested the expansion because it will gobble up more land in an outside development zone. Others questioned the political implications of a permit being issued on election eve, while others have expressed safety concerns.

However, Mr Aquilina believes the controversy goes beyond the stated reasons and attributes it to growing social tension between Għargħur’s original residents and newcomers, who, he notes, fail to understand village life culture.

“Many who came to live here have come to accept that this is a village that is enthusiastic about fireworks and where church bells peal but for some these are alien traditions,” he says.

It is a different take on the controversy sparked by the fireworks factory expansion. He says the media’s coverage of the controversy helped create a perception of widespread opposition to the fireworks project.

Many who came to live here have come to accept that this is a village that is enthusiastic about fireworks

“This is not the case and the few who did object were given disproportionate coverage,” he laments in a very polite tone.

Mr Aquilina notes that Għargħur has been manufacturing fireworks since 1910 in what is a deep-rooted tradition that has seen 200 people along the years being involved in fireworks production.

The fireworks group in Għargħur boasts a membership of 400, easily making it one of the largest local organisations.

In 2010, when plans for the expansion were first mooted, villagers had decided to enter into a donation scheme by contributing €100 each so that the fireworks club could buy the adjacent land.

“Għargħur has a strong culture of fireworks production and it was even noted by the Times of Malta in 2010 that after an explosion had razed one of the buildings to the ground, it was rebuilt in just three days,” Mr Aquilina points out.

Defending the council’s decision not to appeal the planning permit, he says the expansion will contribute to more safety.

The fireworks group held eight meetings with the government-appointed technical committee that advises the Planning Authority on fireworks safety. There was also a site inspection.

The expansion, he continues, will include blast walls and smaller production rooms to keep the various processes apart, all in line with existing policies.

“It will make the factory safer and help reduce the risks. This is what I have been explaining to those genuinely concerned about their safety,” he says.

However, he also admits that, to some, this has not sufficed because they contend that the danger is still there despite the mitigation measures.

“To these people, the only solution is closing down a factory that has been operating legally in the same secluded place since 1986 and this is not an option,” Mr Aquilina adds.

At the council office, he produces a 1994 map used to delineate the council boundaries, when they first came into being.

Mr Aquilina points out the location of the factory, noting that, since then, residences from the Madliena side encroached on the site. Even so, these residences are way beyond the minimum safety distance allowed at law.

He points this out at the valley too. The factory is very far away from the bridge joining Madliena Village, formerly known as Busietta Gardens, and Għargħur.

“It is absurd to say that a blast at the factory will damage the bridge,” he says, quickly adding that it was the Madliena Village complex that ruined the valley side at Wied id-Dis when it was built in the 1990s.

But Mr Aquilina is not one to seek confrontation.

He believes in a process of integration between Għargħur residents and newcomers to the area, referred to by the villagers as “ta’ isfel” (those from the bottom of the hill).

Għargħur is home to just under 3,000 people, according to the National Statistics Office but the rural hilltop village has experienced a gradual expansion over the years.

Mr Aquilina points out the various construction projects transforming terraced houses just outside the village core into four- storey apartment blocks.

“I dislike the distinction some of the Għargħur locals make when referring to people who come to live here but it takes two to tango and it helps if newcomers embrace our traditions and culture,” he remarks.

Back in the main square, I notice an old bar by the name King George VI, reminiscent of the colonial times. Just round the corner a modern convenience shop has sprouted up.

They are reflective of the tension between old and new, tradition and the contemporary that this young mayor has to deal with.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com