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James Debono
A farmer who was refused a permit to deposit soil on a 1,000 square-metre area of garigue on the site today earmarked for the Xaghra l-Hamra golf course, had been told by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority his plan was “incompatible with environmental conservation.”
 Today the same farmer is facing eviction from the land which has been considered for development into an 18-hole golf course where MEPA is agreeing with the Prime Minister for the siting of a golf course on garigue land at Xaghra l-Hamra.
A contradictory attitude from MEPA: back in October 2003, the farmer applied for a permit to deposit soil on garigue, and to dismantle and rebuild a rubble wall in a different location.
The year after in January 2004, MEPA wrote back saying any land reclamation on the land which today has been earmarked for golf course, would be destructive and incompatible with environmental conservation, because the works “do not qualify as permitted development.”
The farmer was informed “the site consisting of garigue is of ecological value” and that “the proposed demolition of rubble wall is not in line with the Rubble Walls and Rural Structures (Conservation and Maintenance), regulations issued under the Environment Protection Act.”
The irony is that whilst that same farmer is being evicted from the land he once thought of expanding, the construction of the golf course will require both the removal of rubble walls that cross fairways and paths, as well as the placement of soil and a recontouring of the site, according to the project description by Adrian Mallia.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt |
