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The Nationalist Party’s representative on the board of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, architect Joe Falzon, voted in favour of the relocation of the Hagar Qim quarries to Wied Moqbol, as Labour representative Joe Brincat was absent when the vote was taken.
The Wied Moqbol area lies within a rural conservation area which has not been approved by MEPA regulations for mineral extraction or as a quarry.
Despite the PN representative’s favourable vote, the proposed development was rejected by the majority of the board.
After a heated discussion on this issue, involving a sizeable number of Zurrieq farmers and residents, the majority of the MEPA board rejected the relocation of the quarries to Wied Moqbol, despite a favourable recommendation by MEPA’s directorate.
Residents voiced their concerns on safety, noise pollution and the disruption of their life, due to trucks transporting construction material in the area.
The directorate justified its favourable recommendation by saying the reconsideration report included 54 conditions instead of the original 28 imposed by the original report.
The conditions included a number of bank guarantees and several restrictions on lorry movements and blasting.
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