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A group of Wardija residents have filed a judicial letter against MEPA, Vodafone and architect Robert Musumeci in connection with the installation of a mobile antenna in Ta’ Kossimu, limits of St Paul’s Bay, calling on the environmental authority to nullify the permit issued two years ago.
Filed by the recently set up Wardija Residents Association, the judicial letter states that MEPA had issued a permit to Vodafone Malta to install a mobile base antenna in Wardija, outside development zone.
The protestors claimed the erection of the antenna will result in permanent and irreparable damage to the environment in the green area.
According to the association, MEPA’s procedures were “abusive and illegal” and the mobile phone company had failed to find an alternative site, as requested by the authority.
The association contests MEPA’s acceptance of the justification for a mobile antenna, which is that “the area under consideration exhibits poor service coverage”.
The protestors said MEPA accepted this justification without seeking further information or consulting residents about the mobile service.
In their letter, the association also claims that the fixed site notice was not put on site and that the residents who had a direct interest in the development could not object to it given that they had now way of knowing about it.
Referring to an internal MEPA audit report concluded in March this year, the complainants pointed out that the audit officer had found irregularities in the planning process and had called for further investigations into the case.
They also claimed that the company had passed on misleading information to MEPA given that it had failed to indicate that the owner of the land in question was the government. The land includes old Punic remains, which the association says have been buried under the rubble used to flatten the antenna base.
The complainants called for removal of the antenna within 48 hours.
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