Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1216530
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MARCH 2020 NEWS KARL AZZOPARDI TWENTY-FIVE farmers and families whose livelihoods de- pend on fields in the Magħtab area yesterday staged a sit-in out- side the Wasteserv waste disposal facility at Magħtab, in protest at government plans to take over their lands. Earlier this week they filed a judicial protest before the First Hall of the Civil Court aimed at safeguarding their fields from a proposed Wasteserv expansion project. The farmers say there is a threat that the government would seize their fields after the publication of a legal notice advising that around 226 tumoli of fields would be needed to expand the site. This, they said, would breach their property and human rights. The protest also states that the current facilities are not in con- formity with the law. Displays of anger were the order of the day yesterday as farmers shared their outrage with jour- nalists. "Politicians have been over- looking us for years now. All they are about is their pockets, all of them," said one farmer. Relatives who spoke to Malt- aToday said entire generations of families had been born and raised on the fields in and around Magħtab. In the midst of the controversy, environment minister Aaron Far- rugia posted a Facebook message expressing solidarity with the farmers, but insisted that Malta's waste management crisis made it necessary for the island to ex- pand its waste disposal facilities. Yet no sooner had Farrugia post- ed the status than Prime Minister Robert Abela came down to the site of protest to meet with farm- ers, where he was shown around the fields. Abela and Farrugia will be meeting the farmers and other stakeholders on Monday. Waste crisis Ealier yesterday Farrugia said he was obliged to give the coun- try a holistic plan on waste man- agement and insisted that these plans were necessary. "I understand the farmers' an- ger and I give them my solidari- ty. I know no compensation will quell this anger, because behind every farmer is a family and their livelihood. "We cannot stay as we are. If we don't take action now, the conse- quences on our environment and the land around Magħtab will be far bigger. Without the nec- essary waste plants and a cul- ture-change, agricultural land will keep on being decimated to the cost of generations to come. "I am finalising the plans the country needs together with experts from the European Commission and at the highest international standards. We will have individual meetings with farmers, residents, local councils, environmental NGOs and any in- terested party. "I take these decisions with re- sponsibility, sadness, but also with determination and courage. This is what the country needs in the common interest." After Abela met with the farm- ers, Farrugia told Maltatoday that expanding Malta's waste disposal facilities was necessary. "If we don't take the decisions now, next year we will be telling people not to put out their black rubbish bags, because we won't have anywhere to dispose of them." Farrugia said that if the coun- try is to have a long-lasting waste management structure, the hard decisions have to be taken now. "I don't want day-to-day solutions, I want long-term planning," he said. Farrugia wants to propose a 10-year holistic plan for a last- ing waste management policy for Malta. "I want the country to reach its recycling targets, but in order to do so we have to have the infrastructure in place," he said. He added that alternatives will be considered during the meeting on Monday. "I can't promise an- ything; Cabinet had approved the decision back in 2018," he said. Farrugia said the government would explore alternatives such as monetary compensation or the leasing of new land, but said that nothing was set in stone. "All I can say is that together the PM and I will be ensuring that the government will be working fair- ly," he said. 'No government will take our lands', Maghtab farmers stage sit-in Aaron Farrugia: "If we don't take the decisions now, next year we will be telling people not to put out their black rubbish bags, because we won't have anywhere to dispose of them" KARL AZZOPARDI ST Julian's residents yesterday protested over a proposed Balluta Bay development, saying the al- ready heavily congested area will be ruined forever if the project is approved. The residents are opposing a project for a hop-on, hop-off fer- ry berth run by the owners of the Fortina hotel. The project coin- cides with temporary jetties pro- posed by the St Julian's waterpolo club, in which Fortina co-owner Edward Zammit Tabone is a club official. Flimkien ghall-Ambjent Ahjar spokesperon Astrid Vella said that the project will be the privatisa- tion of yet another area in St Ju- lian's. "We will be seeing the same situation of the Sliema ferries hap- pening here in Malta," Vella said. "The developer has already admit- ted to ferrying 200-300 tourists; can you imagine the traffic and congestion this will create on a daily basis?" Residents also criticised the de- veloper's statements on the jetty serving as alternative transport. "That is a ridiculous statement. Have you ever gone to work on the hop-on hop-off bus?" Vella insisted. St Julian's mayor Albert Butigieg said that the local council was op- posing the development. He said one of the issues resi- dents were concerned about was the further commercialisation in the area."The council has already started receiving applications for ticket booths," he said. Moviment Graffitti's Andre Cal- lus said that the permit for the Fortina project would effectively be allowing catamarans to berth in Balluta Bay. "The PA needs to send a clear message, that any ri- diculous applications like these should not be filed, let alone ap- proved," he insisted. St Julian's Waterpolo club pres- ident Peter Bonavia defended the proposal, saying that having a "state-of-the-art" watercraft in the bay will improve the area's situa- tion. "During the summer a lot of boats enter the bay and leave be- hind them large amounts of sew- age. This project will help in elim- inating such illegalities," he said. He also insisted that the service will help in reducing traffic in the area, by providing residents and tourists with alternative modes of transport, despite residents' claims. Residents speak out against Balluta development for Fortina ferry Peter Bonavia: the St Julian's club president wants the ferry service, which would rent out his club's jetty