Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/871892
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 6 News Hold your hogs! 'Snout legal to put them on the leash New rules require castration of male pigs JAMES DEBONO KEEPING a pig as a pet is now legal and subject to a number of conditions, including castrating them if male, having them micro- chipped by a veterinarian and pay- ing a one time fee of €35. The new law also bans feeding swill and domestic waste to pigs irrespective of whether these are kept as pets or farm animals. The new rules came into force on Tuesday and anyone already keep- ing a pig as a pet has six months to have the pet castrated and micro- chipped and a year to ensure that they do not have more than two pigs living on a particular site. The pet shop regulations issued in 2013 under the Animal Welfare Act do not address the sale of pet swine and the sector is presently completely unregulated. The legal notice regulates any pig kept as a pet "including all pigs of exotic derivation." The licences for pet keepers will be valid for the entire lifetime of the swine kept as a pet. People who already own pigs as pets have to register them. All swine kept as pets have to be identifiable by a microchip insert- ed beneath the skin of the left ear by a warranted vet. You can have a licence to keep only one pig, but two pigs can live together on one site. Moreover all male pigs kept as pets have to be castrated. The breeding of pigs kept as pets is prohibited. The loss of any pig has to be reported to the authorities within 48 hours. When your pet dies you cannot eat it and the carcass has to be incinerated. Only people over the age of 18 can be licensed as pig- keepers. Anyone convicted in the past for animal cruelty is forbid- den from applying for a licence. And forget taking your pig for a walk on a leash because swine are not allowed in any public place except for • Licence for only one pig • Male pets must be castrated, breeding is prohibited • Lost pigs must be reported within 48 hours • You cannot eat your pet when it dies • Carcass must be incinerated • Forget taking your pig for a walk on a leash because swine are not allowed in any public place except for exhibitions TM wants traffic study for Bahar ic- Caghaq beach plans JAMES DEBONO A stretch of the old Coast Road left redundant after the completion of the widened road at Ba- har ic-Caghaq is still being earmarked for a mas- sive car park and private beach, despite ongoing works by Transport Malta to reclaim the land back to its natural state. Plans for the development include a huge car park for 346 vehicles over two levels on both sides of the roundabout that lies on disturbed land, facing the sea. The project includes beach facilities with two five-metre-high gazebos with an oriental design on top of the parking area. The project is being proposed by Joseph Zam- mit, who happens to be a business partner of Paceville entrepreneur Frank Grima. Grima him- self had stated back in 2016 in an interview with the Malta Business Review that he had plans for a coastline project and a 7,000 sq.m. "Vietnam- ese style resort" which would be "part beach, part restaurant and part soft entertainment area." In April 2016, a Transport Malta spokesperson had told MaltaToday that TM will be issuing a tender for works to return this particular redun- dant stretch of coast road to its "original state", by removing asphalt and other granular material in line with requirements set by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) But when consulted by the Planning Authority, TM did not object to Zammit's application and called on the developers to conduct a Traffic Im- pact Assessment and a Road Safety Assessment. A memo to the PA on the project application states that TM would withhold any further com- ments until after the assessment of the requested studies. Contacted by MaltaToday this week, a spokes- person confirmed that Transport Malta still in- tended to reinstate the stretches of old coast road to their natural state. TM is currently reinstating the area known as l-Ghadira s-Safra in the vicinity of Maghtab: the works, in strict collaboration with the ERA, are mostly completed. The authority has removed the asphalt and is in the process of re-introducing soil to the areas formerly covered with asphalt. The spokesperson confirmed that TM intends to continue the rehabilitation works in the area where the car park is now being proposed. This week, the PA also started a public consul- tation on the application originally presented in January 2016. How parts of the coast road became redundant The stretch of old Coast Road was left redundant after the completion of the widening project and the re-alignment of the road in Bahar ic-Caghaq. According to the TM spokesperson, the new road was designed in line with MEPA permits with the aim of reaching higher and safer standards. The realignment was approved by the MEPA in 2012. Since the application for the car park and beach facilities is being presented on public land, the Lands Authority has to issue its clearance for the project. Last year the Planning Authority issued a planning circular stating that all applications on public land have to be accompanied by a clearance from the Lands Authority stating that it finds "no objection in principle" to the submission of an application on the site in question for the proposed development. The circular was issued after this particular ap- plication was presented. But the circular also states that all applications due to be decided after 30 May, 2016, were being suspended for a maximum period of one year, until clearance was issued by the Lands Authority. The LA has not replied to MaltaToday's questions on whether it has issued a clearance for the project. Also in June, speaking in parliament, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi announced "a concerted effort to develop beaches in various localities around the island". He said that the former Chalet in Sliema had been left in a bad state and that the government would be looking at the possibility of a public- private partnership that would see it converted into a fully-fledged public beach. Similar plans, he said, would be considered in localities such as Pembroke. The old road: when the Coast Road was widened, the new layout was diverted off this parcel of land which now lies vacant, but the area would be large enough to host what developers are planning in the form of a coastline beach development and car park