|
Gilbert Calleja
Past Mgarr, down through the beautiful Gnejna valley, a quiet sandy beach tucked between the cliffs is turning into another casualty of urban émigrés – dirty water, litter on the beach, and a chaotic ensemble of tents, cars, caravans and clusters of summer ‘squatters’. Gnejna is slowly falling victim to the irreparable environmental damage of overcrowding.
Tourists, visitors, fishermen and workers in the area have filed a number of complaints to the Mgarr local council, even to this newspaper, about the disturbance and many health hazards the illegal campers have been causing.
More than half of the beach area, which had been until now spared even by the number of illegal boathouses which mushroomed beneath the cliffs, is now invaded by over 50 families and their colourful tents, sheets and makeshift shelters, haphazardly put up between the parking lot and the sea.
Worsening the situation are the lack of amenities and the danger posed by the numerous cars, gas tanks, barbeques, generators, satellite dishes and other equipment lying in the sun which the campers have brought along with them.
Speaking to MaltaToday, one of the campers was told that on the same morning a young girl was rushed to hospital after she stepped on a used syringe lying in the sand. When asked about the visible murkiness of the water the same person attributed the fact to underwater currents and said that such currents were common in the bay.
However, local fishermen seem to be of a different opinion. “Fishermen have shown concern about an unusual type of moss which was recently observed in the area, the cause of which is probably the illegal dumping of human excrement,” Mgarr mayor Paul Vella said. “We cannot allow this abuse to go on.”
According to Vella, the local council has reported the situation to various public entities including the Police and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) but few seem able to take action because of “a loophole” in the present law. Vella further explained that there also seem to be many doubts whether the area, or large parts of it, are publicly or privately owned.
In June however, MEPA has issued dozens of enforcement notices against the illegal boathouses at Gnejna, a symptom of the impudence and flippant attitude towards planning and environmental laws in Malta.
Whether these will be upheld or not by the same authority, will be another question altogether.
“The situation has become unbearable. Come here early in the morning and you see people trailing all over the place with their buckets dumping their ‘waste’ practically anywhere,” a man who works in the area says. “Behind the reeds, in the surrounding fields, beneath the rocks of the cliffs, people are dumping their shit everywhere!”
gcalleja@mediatoday.com.mt
|
