The Nationalist Party is insisting on a transparent and open debate on the government’s plans for a new waste processing plant for the generation of energy.

In a letter sent today to the chairman of the House Committee on the Environment, Opposition environment spokesman Karol Aquilina said this project would have a major impact on waste managmeent and consequently the environment.

As the committee’s responsibility was to scrutinise government decisions in the environmental sector, the Opposition was calling on the committee to:

• Hear Minister Jose Herrera and the CEO of WasteServ about decisions they took or planned to take;
• See all reports conducted for the government in the sector, including those by experts with the use of EU funds; and
• Hear experts in the sector and representatives of organisations involved in the environmental sector.

The Opposition said it committed itself to continue to contribute to ensure that decisions taken by the government in the sector would be in the best interest of the environment and future generations.

The letter to the committee can be read in the pdf link below.

'Contradictory' request

The government was quick to respond to the PN's calls, saying its request for a parliamentary committee debate was "contradictory",  seeing as the party had rejected government overtures to join a technical committee tasked with making recommendations on waste management.

"While the government appreciates the role of parliamentary committees, it wants to involve the Opposition at an earlier stage," the official statement read.

"It however seems like the Opposition is only there to criticise decisions once they've been taken... this is nothing different from its approach during the past years."