Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1432934
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 NOVEMBER 2021 NEWS Aquaculture Resources Ltd is currently building its engineering team, which will operate and main- tain a newly constructed state of the art rendering plant that will be in operation in the first quarter of 2022. The following vacancies are available: · Mechanical Engineer · Mechanical Technician · Electrical Technician · Electronics and Control Technician Detailed position descriptions are available on request via jz@aquacultureresources.com The successful candidates will be responsible for the overall Operation and Maintenance of the factory equipment, including secondary mechanical systems. Specialized training on the operation and maintenance of major equipment will be provided by Aquaculture Resources Ltd. Employment will be remunerated with an attractive package commensurate with the abilities and performance of the selected candidate. Interested candidates are to send their application via email, including a detailed Curriculum Vitae by 10th December 2021 to jz@aquacultureresources.com Although most Italian students are placed in mainstream class- es, some of them are referred by schools to receive 'induction' support. This normally occurs when learners, irrespective of their age, have limited compe- tence in both English and Mal- tese and are therefore placed in an 'induction hub', sometimes prior to mainstreaming. While these induction hubs provide a space for migrant learners to improve their com- petence of English and Mal- tese, "adequate in-class support should also be provided and sustained". One of the risks posed by a lack of inclusion is the emer- gence of in-class and out-of- class 'clusters' of students of foreign nationalities, who do not mix readily with the Mal- tese. "Unfortunately, they do not tend to mix with Maltese students. They tend to stay in groups with other foreigners or Italian counterparts," a second- ary school teacher interviewed in the study said. The study recommends a greater emphasis on linguistic similarities between Maltese and Italian. One way of address- ing this problem is by asking students to focus on the lo- cal linguistic landscape, which is rife with Italianisms. "This would help all students realise that Italian is strongly present locally, while enabling Italian students to appreciate that Mal- ta is 'so near' to their homeland, rather than 'so far'." Ironically, while the popularity of Italian TV channels in previ- ous decades had led to a "con- siderable degree of spontaneous acquisition among locals" in a context with few Italian mi- grants coming to work here, the latest influx of Italian peo- ple in Malta is taking place at a time when knowledge of Italian is less widespread, especially among young people. Curiously, the study shows that Italian students in Malta are resorting to English nomen- clature to refer to school-re- lated topics just like locals do. Examples include instances of code-switching such as: "... durante il parents' evening" (during the parent's evening); "quella di design e technology [l'insegnante] dà sempre... tipo detention. Solo perche magari ti scordi l'apron" (The arts and design teacher always gives de- tention even if you forget the apron) and other sentences in which they use the words "pitch", "gym", "timetable" and "locker". One student even used the term "soggetto" (subject) to refer to school subjects, al- though this is incorrect in Ital- ian. JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority's ap- peals tribunal (EPRT) has con- firmed a 2019 decision refusing a permit for a 3,000sq.m fuel station on the Rabat Road, in the vicinity of the St Mary of Victories chapel. The fuel station, proposed by Ludwig Camilleri, had been rejected a year before the ap- proval of a new policy banning new fuel stations on agricul- tural land, and which limited their size to 1,000sq.m outside the development zones. The Rabat Road refusal was due to a breach of the policy banning new petrol stations within 500m of existing fuel stations. In an appeal filed by lawyer and former PA chief Ian Sta- frace, Camilleri disputed the refusal, saying the nearby Pit Stop fuel station in Attard was 510m away from his site, us- ing the future configuration of the Central Link road project. While recognising that the distance between the two sta- tions had been "somewhat ex- tended" by the Central Link, this did not reflect the situa- tion when the fuel station was refused, just a week after the approval of the Central Link project. The EPRT pointed out that the roads project had not even been officially pub- lished and works still had not even commenced. Calculating the exact distance between the two stations required the con- clusions of the works, which was impossible at the time of the decision. By the time the Central Link works were con- cluded, the fuel station policy had been replaced by a more stringent one. Camilleri also disputed an- other reason given for refus- ing the petrol station, being its location within 300m of a groundwater source. He re- ferred to another permit for a fuel station, approved in 2018 in breach of this policy requirement, for the Bilom Group outside development zones on Qormi Road near the Water Services Corporation. The EPRT confirmed the permit was in breach of the policy banning fuel stations in the vicinity of groundwater sources, but said this was in- sufficient to overrule the poli- cy requirements Camilleri was obliged to follow. It also said it would not con- sider new plans downsizing the petrol station and locating it further away from ground- water sources, being that it was within the 500m distance from the Pit Stop petrol sta- tion. Camilleri acquired the Birkirkara petrol station li- cence in 2014 with the in- tention of relocating it to his property, outside develop- ment zones. After consider- ing a site in Salina, deemed a non-starter by the Environ- ment and Resources Author- ity, he requested permission for his land on the Rabat Road. The site had been emarked for a private cemetery in 2011, but this was precluded by a new policy in 2014. Tribunal confirms rejection of Rabat road petrol station