Works at Mġarr ix-Xini stopped after reports of silt seepage into sea

Environment Resources Authority officials order works at Gozitan bay to halt after finding necessary silt curaint had not been deployed

Silt seeped into the sea at Mġarr ix-Xini due to works which were being carried out at the bay (Photo: Arnold Cassola Facebook page)
Silt seeped into the sea at Mġarr ix-Xini due to works which were being carried out at the bay (Photo: Arnold Cassola Facebook page)

Works at Mġarr ix-Xini have been ordered to stop after reports of silt seeping into the bay’s waters.

The Environment and Resources Authority said that, following inspections by its officials, it had transpired that works on the damaged quay had been ongoing without the necessary silt curtain having been deployed.

The works were also not in compliance with the conditions imposed by the ERA through a Nature Permit which specified that an ecologic monitor should be present on site.

The ERA said that, despite having be told to halt activity, the contractor had restarted the works and was again ordered to stop.

“ERA warned the contractor that works cannot proceed until a full silt curtain is deployed which is to be adequately sealed at the edges and imposed the presence of the ecological monitor on site,” the Authority said.

Independent MEP candidate Arnold Cassola had on Thursday drawn attention, in a Facebook post, to the environmental damage being done to the bay.

Mġarr ix-Xini was made famous after By the Sea, a 2015 film starring Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, had been partially filed at the bay