Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1288715
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 SEPTEMBER 2020 NEWS Thermal treatment facility for clinical waste to replace Marsa incinerator MATTHEW VELLA THE process for a high-level plant that will replace the Mar- sa incinerator has started with a first tender for design and envi- ronmental studies to be issued in the coming days. Environment minister Aaron Farrugia his vision for a com- pletely revamped waste man- agement infrastructure with a €50 million thermal treatment facility for clinical waste in Marsa. The new facility will incorpo- rate the best available technol- ogy, with a potential of green energy generation through in- cineration, to complement a waste-to-energy plant and or- ganic waste plant in the com- ing years. "This project will bring about a substantial leap in the quali- ty of life. While the inconven- ience of an incinerator will be removed from Marsa, the mod- ern technology used in the new plant will ensure that the sur- rounding areas are not nega- tively impacted," Farrugia said. "The plant will be located in the same area as the other plants, quashing the environ- mental repercussions of trans- portation between one facility and another around the coun- try. This is another step for- ward towards a circular econ- omy environment." Farrugia said that until the new plant is available, Was- teServ will invest in new meas- ures to minimise the incon- venience caused by the Marsa incinerator. He referred to a number of veterinary shortcomings iden- tified by a European commis- sion inspection, such as the proper storage of bone meal, improvements within the foul water treatment system, and proper labelling of incom- ing waste, that have been ad- dressed. WasteServ CEO Richard Bilocca said the waste agen- cy will engaged with private slaughterhouses and livestock farms to move away from tra- ditional practices which have contaminated waste with plas- tics, which damage the plant, or dead animals delivered in an advanced state of decay. "The improvement of the fa- cility requires collective action, and WasteServ is determined to deliver this in the shortest possible timeframes as prepa- rations for the construction of a new state of the art facility are in full swing and being held simultaneously," Bilocca said. Wasteserv addresses shortcomings inside animal waste incinerator plant Court orders Malta Yacht Club eviction from Ta' Xbiex premises MATTHEW AGIUS THE Royal Malta Yacht Club has been ordered to vacate its Ta' Xbiex lido after a court declared that it had no legal title to the premises. Madame Justice Joanne Vella Cuschie- ri handed down the decision yesterday morning in a case filed by the Malta Playing Fields Association. The association had argued that it was given a 49-year emphyteusis over the 672sq.m site by the government in 2002. The land had been expropriated by the government in 2008 as part of a site later given to the yacht club. But the MPFA had contested the va- lidity of the expropriation order, win- ning a court case it filed in October 2015, in which the court had ruled that the expropriation was not carried out in the public interest. The Royal Malta Yacht Club, however, insisted it had legal title over the prop- erty, saying it had acquired it in good faith under a legally binding contract. The association could not ask the court to order its eviction, argued the RMYC, but could only request damages from whoever could have caused it such damages. The club, which had made thousands of euros worth of investment in the premises, reserved the right to it- self sue the Lands Authority and Sport Malta for damages. In its judgment on the matter, the court said that in view the appellate court decision in 2015 which held that the expropriation was null, it could not declare that the club had a valid title over the property, as this would contra- dict the previous decision on the illegal- ity of the expropriation. Upholding the MPFA's arguments, the judge declared that the RMYC had no right to occupy the lido and ordered its eviction. The court said it reserved the Associa- tion's right for eventual claims and fur- ther proceedings for damages and com- pensation for the occupation of the site.