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Karl Schembri
Punic tombs, Roman catacombs and wartime shelters discovered last year on Mtarfa Ridge near Dar il-Kaptan will be buried by a massive block of government flats and garages for more than 40 families if the Malta Environment and Planning Authority gives its go-ahead later this year.
Already unofficially approved by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, to the chagrin of concerned residents, the local council and heritage experts, the Housing Authority’s project has been redesigned to leave parts of the archaeological site untouched, but others will be covered by the development and any potential excavations there will have to be sacrificed to new buildings.
According to the new plans submitted to MEPA, the housing authority has drawn back its building on one side by a few metres, but it will still build a platform with flats above it over a network of Roman catacombs and World War II shelters deemed of high archaeological and historical value.
The development was suspended last year after the discoveries, but the heritage superintendence stopped short of doing any archaeological excavations and only limited itself to “monitoring” the developer’s digging on site.
According to Mark Anthony Mifsud of the heritage superintendence, “the new design leaves no direct impact on the tombs”.
He said the superintendence has been struggling for the past months to safeguard the heritage finds there but “there are no grounds to veto the development”.
“The original design would have bulldozed all the area,” he said. “The new design spares the archaeological features and ensures their preservation and access.”
The new design provides for the building of a platform over the tombs with apartments above it.
“The tomb would have been turned into a garage were it not for our intervention,” Mifsud said.
But the superintendence is getting the flak from the Mtarfa council and from concerned residents for being short-sighted in the conservation of heritage for future generations who may want to explore the archaeologically rich area of Mtarfa, which is known to hide numerous old burial sites, silos and other heritage features.
Also, building just above Punic tombs will devalue the whole site, making any potential future heritage use impossible.
The Mtarfa council is strongly protesting against the development, calling on the superintendence to preserve the area seriously.
“The project is being amended so that the developer will be able to build above a site that is considered of archaeological importance,” the council said in a letter to the superintendence earlier this month. “The site is found on Mtarfa Hill, the most important and sensitive site known for its archaeological importance … Interestingly, the same housing authority was refused a permit for development in the vicinity where there are grain silos to preserve the cultural heritage. If the superintendence accepts the amended plans then it will be opening the door for development on archaeological sites.”
The housing authority said in its new MEPA application that the “changes are being made in view of the archaeological findings discovered during site clearance”.
Housing Authority chairperson Marisa Micallef said the new design was submitted in line with the superintendence’s directions.
“Amendments to the basement were proposed in order to preserve the shelters and other features found,” she said. “The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has approved these amendments since the features found are being preserved.”
But despite the findings, the authority did not state in its application that the site belongs to a scheduled, protected area or other conservation zone.
The plans also indicate there will be access to the shelters from one of the apartment blocks although it does not provide for public access.
Mifsud said that “potentially, there may be public access in the future” although this may create security problems for the residential block.
MEPA will be receiving objections to the development until the coming Sunday, 5 February.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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