Planning Authority board members who approved plans to build a fireworks factory in Għarb will have blood on their hands should tragedy strike the Gozitan village once again, an environmental activist group has warned.

Authorities gave the go-ahead for the new factory, which will be located just 300 metres from a historic chapel, earlier this week. The approval comes despite Għarb residents having voted in 2010 to ban any further fireworks plants in their village.

Għarb valley already hosts a number of such factories, with two fatal explosions in 2010 and 2012 having shocked the nation.

In a statement issued on Monday, eNGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar expressed incredulity that that PA had ridden roughshod over residents’ wishes.

Photo: Matthew MirabelliPhoto: Matthew Mirabelli

It noted that the same authority which had, in 2009, refused a permit for a 20-square metre agricultural store now had no objection to building a 5,000 square metre fireworks factory on the same site – land which, the FAA added, was designated as a Special Area of Conservation and therefore of particular environmental value.

“This was also disregarded by the Planning Authority,” the eNGO said.

It urged the University of Malta’s chemistry department to publish studies it had conducted into air pollution caused by fireworks and the effects fireworks residue had on agricultural produce.

“FAA asks how the Planning Authority can so brazenly ignore the will of the people to protect themselves against the real threat that firework factories pose, and then go on to claim that it acts on behalf of the same community when its callous decisions are directly putting their lives at risk,” the NGO lambasted.

“After ignoring all the warnings the government and the Planning Authority board members cannot but be held responsible for the further loss of life that may result if tragedy were to strike yet again.”  

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.