An email erroneously sent to MaltaToday by the Home Affairs ministry has revealed the government’s deliberate attempt at keeping under wraps a recommendation by the Pyrotechnics Commission to relocate two fireworks factories over safety threats to nearby residents.
With a Freedom of Information bill just round the corner, the government has so far refused to disclose the reports revealing that Malta’s fireworks factories are not all in line with the necessary legal and safety requirements.
In particular it has refused to disclose the Pyrotechnics Commission’s recommendation to Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg to close down the San Mikiel factory in Lija – the minister’s home constituency – and the Sant Andrija factory in Luqa because of the danger they pose to nearby residents and property since they are not sufficiently distant from public areas as required by the law.
In the email addressed to Tonio Borg but mistakenly sent to this newspaper, communications coordinator Joe Azzopardi informs the minister that the MaltaToday journalist “keeps insisting, even after I sent the reply as drafted by Leonard Callus,” referring to the Prime Minister’s spokesperson. “Shall I ignore him?” The email was sent minutes after yet another request from this newspaper to disclose both the recommendation by the Pyrotechnics Commission, appointed in March of this year; and a 2004 report on fireworks factory safety which lists fireworks factories which do not satisfy the legal distance requirements.
In a tragic accident on 27 July, the St Helen’s factory in Gharghur went up in smoke leaving five men dead. It was later revealed that a decision by the Fenech Adami administration in 2001 to allow the St Helen’s factory to continue operating despite being in breach of distance requirements, was taken without ever consulting the Explosives Committee – the government watchdog on fireworks factories.
The Pyrotechnics Commission was appointed in March to report on current practices in fireworks factories and recommend on the location of the factories, the storage and transport of pyrotechnics, and also licensing and legal matters.
To date, the Pyrotechnics Commission has not submitted any report over the issue of safety but has recommended the government to close down the San Mikiel and San Andrija factories. The commission is composed of Carmel Magro as chairperson, Assistant Commissioner Andrew Seychell, Anthony Farrugia as a representative of the Pyrotechnics Society, and Joseph Theuma and Annetto Portelli as experts. Civil Protection Director Peter Cordina is executive secretary.

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NEWS | Wednesday, 15 August 2007

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