Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/250270
9 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2014 Disabled people's commission seeks 'invitation' to inspect new buses JAMES DEBONO THE national commission for persons with a disability (KNPD) has been given reassurances by transport minister Joe Mizzi that the new bus service will be fully accessible for disabled persons. But the commission is insisting on inspecting any new buses before these are put on the street. The government has issued a call for expression of interests for the operation of the new service following the departure of Arriva. The authority has imposed the maximum dimensions of the buses that will be used, excluding bendybuses but allowing the possibility for double deckers. Buses' engines will have to be low-emission, Euro 5 compliant and low-floored. Speaking to MaltaToday, KNDP chairman Joe Camilleri recalled that before the introduction of lowfloor buses by Arriva, KNPD representatives were invited to try out the vehicles beforehand to ensure that they were accessible to people with different disabilities. "KNPD looks forward to a similar invitation and for the opportunity to give its feedback before any final plans are made," Camilleri said. Camilleri also revealed that back in September, he wrote to Mizzi seeking his assurance that disabled people's needs and rights would be respected in any forthcoming reforms in the public transport sector. In his reply Mizzi made it clear that accessibility for persons with disability would be assured in any and all changes to the existing public transport system. Camilleri was not particularly concerned about the possible introduction of double-deckers as a replacement to bendy buses on certain routes. "The KNPD does not object to the introduction of double decker buses so long as disabled persons, including wheelchair users, are catered for," he said. He pointed out that whilst disabled people who are deaf, blind, or have an intellectual impairment will be able to access the upper and lower floors of these vehicles, it is imperative that people with restricted mobility are not discriminated against. "At the very least, we have to be provided with the same level of accessibility we have come to expect from the existing fleet of low-floor buses". Although popular with motorists, Boris Johnson's decision to reintroduce the Routemaster double decker angered disability rights activists. Transport for All, an organization which speaks for older and disabled transport users, said that the authorities were "nuts" to scrap the vehicles, especially as their new Routemaster-style replacements had only "a tiny wheelchair space". "On every other bus in London, wheelchair users are frequently left stranded at the bus stop when pushchair users refuse to fold their buggy and give up the wheelchair bay," said spokeswoman Lianna Etkind in 2011. Moreover the organization pointed out that the elderly and people with no visible disabilities but whose mobility is in some way impaired would face greater difficulty if the lower compartment of the double decker is full. But unlike the old double deckers, the new Routemaster introduced by Boris Johnson has several design fea- tures catering for greater accessibility: a low floor, three points of entry, the i-bus system which announces destinations both visually and via audio, and plenty of grab rails. But while welcoming all these features Transport for All complained that although the wheelchair space met official regulations, "maneuvering skills of a paralympian basketball player seem to be required to get yourself into the space". Works near Gozo helipad covered by MEPA permit DNO permit allows removal of past dumping and covering archeologically sensitive site with soil or other material JAMES DEBONO THE Malta Environment and Planning Authority has issued a permit for the deposition of soil or "other material" on agricultural land disturbed by illegal dumping, in the vicinity of a heliport. In the 1990s the land in question was identified as a runway for an airstrip, before the project was aborted by former Prime Minister Alfred Sant. The current government has not excluded developing an airstrip on the same site. The permit to remove illegal dumping and deposit soil on this archeologically sensitive area was issued on 10 December 2013, through a Development Notification Order, a simplified planning procedure which does not require the presentation of a case officer's report, and normally used for minor interventions or developments. In the 1990s the Museum Department had claimed that its work to assess the archaeological potential of the site had been hindered by the illegal dumping. An enforcement order against the illegal dumping in the area was only issued in 2010. According to MEPA, the ongoing works, which involve the removal of the illegal dumping, are in line with preparation works related to the DNO. The removal of the illegally dumped construction waste will be followed by the deposition of soil and other material. The same DNO clearance issued in December stipulated monitoring of the works by the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage (SCH), which has been notified that works commenced. MEPA enforcement officers are also monitoring these works. According to a spokesperson for Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, the clean-up is taking place "for the benefit of farmers in the area and the general environment which was abandoned for a long period of time." But in a statement issued last week, the Gozo Business Chamber and the Gozo Tourism Association said they welcomed these works, "in preparation for the Gozo airstrip." One major obstacle to the project is the presence of archeological remains in the vicinity of the proposed area, some of which were covered by illegal dumping. According to the Superintendent for Cultural Heritage, the only official studies ever conducted on the area were carried out by the Museums Department in the mid-1990s. "At the time it emerged that the footprint of the projected airstrip was to be located over an area almost entirely covered by recent dumping. This rendered the assessment of the land from an archaeological point of view virtually impossible," acting Superintendent Nathaniel Cutajar had told MaltaToday in January 2007. But a separate survey carried out by MEPA in 2006 claimed that "the preliminary archaeological survey did not register insurmountable problems as the area has been predominantly heavily disturbed. But this does not mean that surprises cannot appear during the intervention stage." Xewkija is rich in archaeological remains, to the extent that archaeologist David Trump had noted "several fine pairs" of cart ruts in the olive grove west of the pumping station, just south of Xewkija, less than a kilometre away from the proposed airstrip. In 1948, newspaper Il-Berqa revealed that parts of these cart ruts were vandalised when explosives were used to clear the ground for the olive grove. Archaeological remains in the area are already indicated in a map in the Gozo and Comino local plan but these remains lie either at the periphery or outside the affected area. The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has called for an environmental impact assessment if an application to extend the Ta' Lambert airstrip in Gozo is presented to MEPA. The development of a fixed-wing landing strip at Ta' Lambert is actually considered in MEPA's GozoComino local plan, but the same plan clearly states that before any decision can be taken on the matter, investigations must first be carried out of the development's impact. This must of course in- clude cultural heritage impacts. The local plan also states that MEPA should assist the government in drafting the terms of reference for a study which should also explore alternatives to a hard runway such as the use of amphibious aircraft landing at Marsalforn. It also states that no concrete evidence exists to demonstrate that a fixed wing service would be viable. TECHNICAL ATTACHE`