News • 01 DECEMBER 2002

T’Alla w Ommu agricultural holdings surrounded by illegal industrial activity

Edwin Vassallo says fields already damaged by industrial activity but soil analysis confirms high quality

By Matthew Vella

NAXXAR – Economic Services Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo could be planning to take his case to Parliament to adjust the Local Plan and develop green areas which conflict with his plan to free up more land for industrial parks.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s ‘SMEs Site Selection Exercise’, commissioned by the Ministry itself, identified over 282,000 square metres of land which could be earmarked for industrial development.

The biggest slice of land tagged for industrial development will be 75,810 square metres at T'Alla w Ommu in Naxxar, which currently hosts a number of arable fields.

Mr Vassallo’s land-freeing plan however conflicts with the North West Local Plan, which shows the land at T'Alla w Ommu designated as part of the Burmarrad Country Park.

Developers waiting to move in

The area at T'Alla w Ommu has so far never been intended for industrial development, although previous developers could be about to finally turn their agricultural land into a more profitable venture.

Back in 1992, the Planning Area Permit Board had turned down an application by John Gatt of Gatt Brothers, for the operation of a tarmac plant. A subsequent appeal was later turned down by a committee of the House of Representatives on 26 October, 1992. The area in question was ordered to be re-instated for agricultural use but this was never carried out by the developer.

According to MaltaToday sources, this land and the T'Alla w Ommu agricultural holdings earmarked for industrial expansion, are owned by Gatt Brothers.

The Budaqq Residents and Proprietors Association are arguing that if such a private industrial park is developed, the high rents will discourage any third parties seeking to relocate their activity on this land.

Industrial encroachment

The fields at T'Alla w Ommu are today surrounded by an encroaching industrial area of storage yards and also a quarry, which has been already noted for its backlog of enforcement notices for environmental and planning breaches.

Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo has attempted to justify the industrial expansion by arguing that the land in question has already been negatively impacted by dust from nearby quarries and other industrial activity.

However, according to a soil analysis (SO301/02) taken at the agricultural chemistry laboratories, the soil at Alla w Ommu has been classified as ‘Very High’ in potassium and phosphate levels. The land itself is still arable and is still being ploughed by farmers on the land.

MaltaToday can also confirm that the lawfulness of the surrounding industrial activity is very much in doubt. The area is surrounded by industrial operators who have been given a collective total of 21 enforcement notices within the past five years.

Ballut Blocks received three enforcement notices in 2002 for illegal extensions to its batching plant and other brick structures, and for changing the use of agricultural land for stockpiling building material. Today, the plant is surrounded by waste material and six-metre-high dust mounds.
According to the 2000 ‘Survey of Geological and Hydrological Resources of the Central Malta Local Plan’, the quarry has already caused irreversible damage to Wied il-Ghasel to "a significant part of one slope of the gorge and mounds of quarry rejects, rubble and other dumped rubbish have also altered its natural morphology."

The report says that if quarrying remains unchecked, the valley will continue to lose its natural characteristics.

Vassallo justifies

Mr Vassallo has defended his plans for freeing up land by saying that his solution responds to the needs of displaced micro-enterprises with no permits and which have already been issued with enforcement notices.

"The reason why some of these industrial estates are being opposed is because there are some people who are living comfortably in a farmhouse and who do not want the value of their property to depreciate. Is this protest justifiable when the land at T'Alla w Ommu could be used to generate employment and benefit 200 families?"

Mr Vassallo also told MaltaToday that none of the 500,000 square metres of free industrial land under the Malta Development Corporation’s auspices will be used for SMEs.

"MDC does not cater for micro-enterprises, because its land is left for large manufacturers and companies such as Brandstatter for expansionary purposes. The only land left under MDC is at Hal-Far. You cannot pitch small and medium enterprises like carpenters, mechanics and small manufacturers so far away from their commercial radius. It is not economically viable. These businesses have to work in the vicinity of residential units."

Mr Vassallo said that the land under MDC auspices had now been exhausted and that micro-enterprises had to be given equally distributed land around the island, close to centres of commercial activity.

Parliament humiliated

Questioned by MaltaToday Alternattiva Demokratika Environment Spokesperson, Mark Causon said: "The present attempt on this valuable stretch of arable land must be seen in a time and space perspective. Over the years it has been the target of speculators who have been confronted with enforcement actions but carry on regardless. They have successfully humiliated parliament by ignoring its orders for a decade. Edwin Vassallo has joined them for the coup de grace. It is a process that applies across the country. This is planning by default or planning chaos. The rules don't count and the whole country will go under bricks before long."

matthew@maltamag.com