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MaltaToday 26 August 2020 MIDWEEK

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8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 AUGUST 2020 NEWS PA will approve Qormi five-storey office block JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authori- ty's board is set to approve a five-storey commercial block on Valletta Road in Qormi, right opposite the Centerpark shopping mall. The bulky project will have a total floor area of 11,000sq.m over a 2,000sq.m footprint, and includes a three-story under- gound car park for 221 slots. The project, proposed by Gozitan property magnate Joe Portelli, originally consisted of a more imposing 13-storey high-rise set over a smaller footprint. The PA had approved the ex- cavation of the site in May be- fore new plans for a low-rise development were presented. The high-rise plans were abandoned after the PA in- formed Portelli that the pro- posal was not in line with pol- icy regulating high buildings, as the site area was less than 4,000sq.m as required to ac- commodate a medium and high-rise development. Despite the massive scale of the project the PA's design advisory committee said it is "not averse to the proposal", expressing reservations on the dark grey slate material, texture and colour, especially that on the part of the building nearest the existing rural farm- house, which is being retained and restored. The Environment and Re- sources Authority also de- scribed the reduction in height from the originally proposed high rise "as positive and more in line with the surrounding area". The case officer recommend- ing the project for approval de- scribed the proposed develop- ment as a "coherent building", acceptable from an aesthetical point of view since "it consti- tutes a standalone building having no rhythm to follow of a particular street scape when seen from Qormi Road." A vernacular building in Triq l-Erba' Qaddisin in the cor- ner with Valletta Road and an existing reservoir, will be re- tained and restored. A photovoltaic system will generate 32,000kWh of elec- tricity annually. No green trav- el plan is being required be- cause the project was deemed to provide sufficient parking spaces. JAMES DEBONO A massive concrete plant that will produce almost 2,000 blocks an hour, is being proposed for a spent quarry that presently is an eyesore inside the Special Area of Conservation at L-Għar tal-Iburdan in Rabat. The present quarrying opera- tion directly abuts Tal-Iburdan cave, impacting on the geologi- cal stability of the cave. The cave acts as a breeding and roosting site for bats host- ing the lesser horseshoe bat and the Maghreb Mouse-eared bat. The natural vegetation, ag- ricultural and arable land of the surrounding area, act as impor- tant bat foraging grounds. The proposed concrete plant, proposed instead of backfill- ing the quarry, will occupy 15,000sq.m of the 65,000sq.m covered by the quarry. It is estimated that for the backfilling of 580,000 cubic metres of inert waste over a period of two years would re- quire about 45 inbound trips on a daily basis from Monday to Saturday, by using 20cb.m hauling trucks. The proposed plant will pro- duce between 30sq.m and 120sq.m of fresh concrete every hour: at full capacity it will require between six to 20 daily inbound truck trips for the delivery of aggregate rock and sand, and up to three daily trips to deliver cement. The proposal to backfill the quarry void and construct the concrete plant is being made by Tlata Co. Ltd, which is owned by Paul Falzon. The plans in- clude a concrete batching plant for the production of ready- mix concrete for the construc- tion industry. The owners said they are committed to mitigate the negative visual impact and at- tenuate noise. "The principal activities will take place at a level well screened by adequate boundary walls and topograph- ical barriers. The emissions of dust will be partly controlled by appropriate devices and ve- hicle washing to prevent dust and residues migrating to near- by roads and land." But the Environment and Re- sources Authority wants the quarry backfilled and restored to agricultural land. While res- toration and backfilling will improve site views by remov- ing the existing scar on the landscape, a concrete plant would "defeat the scope of the proposed restoration of the site by introducing new industrial elements into the surrounding sensitive rural landscape." ERA warned that the "perma- nent introduction of an indus- trial after-use would also im- ply that the site context would continue to be prejudiced and would not be allowed to recov- er". Instead ERA called for inter- im measures to ameliorate the situation on site, especially to stop the stockpiling of stone material on top of L-Għar tal-Iburdan, which is causing significant damage. Concrete plant spells trouble for bat colonies in protected cave The quarry located within the Special Area of Conservation 'L-Ghar tal-Iburdan u l-Inhawi Tal-Madwar'

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