[WATCH] Roads agency to steam ahead on Dingli alley works, Graffitti protest on site

Infrastructure Malta has announced it will steam ahead on the construction of a controversial street connecting two cul-de-sacs in Dingli.

The agency had stopped the works soon after they commenced in October 2020 after protests raised by residents and Moviment Graffitti.

“During the last few months, IM held talks with the Planning Authority, the Environment and Resources Authority and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage to go through the plans and method statements of this road and ensure that they are implemented with the least possible adverse impacts on the area’s environment. It also continued talks with the owners of adjacent lands to discuss and conclude applicable expropriation terms,” the agency said in a statement.

Read more Dingli road residents want stopped: owner’s plan to build ‘room’ has ERA concerned

Last week the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal turned down an appeal against the Environment and Resources Authority’s permit for the uprooting of three trees in the site of the schemed street. In submissions to the EPRT, the ERA said the appellants did not have a juridical interest to make such an appeal. The ERA also reconfirmed its approval for the uprooting of the three trees, explaining that Infrastructure Malta was requested to plant 30 new trees as an adequate compensation in line with applicable regulations.

In a separate submission following a site inspection, the enforcement and environment protection officers of the ERA denied allegations that Infrastructure Malta had uprooted trees illegally when works started in October.

The Planning Authority also told the EPRT that there was no obligation for Infrastructure Malta to notify the PA about its works in Dingli since the new street between Dahla tas-Sienja Street, San Gwann Bosco Street and Il-Museum Alley was schemed as according to the local plan.

“Residents in Il-Musuem Alley and other nearby areas in Dingli have long been calling for the formation of this schemed street to improve connectivity and to create a safer access to numerous residences, some of which are currently only accessible through a narrow lane that does not permit firefighting and other emergency vehicles to reach their homes. In a recent communication to Infrastructure Malta, the Civil Protection Department denied the allegation that it had told a local organisation there was no need to improve accessibility to emergency vehicles in this area,” IM said in its statement.

“As it does in all works close to archaeological remains, IM is consulting the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to make sure that a centuries-old abandoned building a short distance away from the new street’s alignment, which is believed to be the remains of a medieval chapel, is not adversely impacted by the required works.

“The construction of the new street does not necessitate the demolition or alteration of any parts of these historical remains. An archaeologist approved by the Superintendence will be monitoring all road works near this historical structure, to make sure it is adequately protected. Infrastructure Malta is planning to complete this new street in the next few months.”

The medieval chapel in Dingli which was amongst the first 10 parishes to be documented as early as 1436, had been on the waiting list of buildings awaiting legal protection for the past eight years.

But no decision was taken until direct action by Graffitti activists against roadworks by Infrastructure Malta in its vicinity.

A report by a Planning Authority case officer for a minor extension of a building immediately next to the Late Medieval Church of Santa Duminka, reveals that the building had been proposed for scheduling just months before the 2013 election, in November 2012.

But no action was taken for the past eight years to protect the chapel, with the scheduling placed on the backburner, and facilitating plans for a schemed road to link the two alleyways.