Rabat residents slam use of heavy machinery, removal of soil during ongoing archaeological investigation

Rabat residents have condemned the use of heavy machinery, the removal of soil and the clearing of mature trees, some of which may have been protected, during an ongoing archaeological investigation of a site at Buskett Road, Rabat.

“The investigation was commissioned by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) to assist it to finalise its representations to the Planning Authority board regarding the application, which proposes to demolish a farmhouse – known to be over 130 years old and excavate the entire site, which includes a mature garden, to build two basement levels for 83 garages, 30 apartments, 10 penthouses, 9 maisonettes, and a retail outlet,” they said on Thursday.

Close to 1,000 individual objections were filed against the application (PA/02441/25) earlier this year. Lawyer Claire Bonello and architect Tara Cassar also filed a class objection on behalf of 296 of the objectors.

The organising committee of the group of class objectors said photographic and video evidence shows that during the investigation some archaeological features, including at least one tomb, have already been discovered but have been kept secret so far.

In the absence of any public announcement by the SCH, the extent and significance of the discoveries to date is not yet publicly known.

Of particular concern to the objectors is the use of heavy machinery and the apparent lack of limit imposed on the size of excavators being used, and the apparent lack of insistence that the buckets of any excavators used are toothless. The objectors said smaller machinery, and mainly manual labour should be used instead.

The site is very close to known archaeological sites, including a necropolis discovered in 1968 in front of the farmhouse, and the objectors said the use of heavy machinery and excavators with toothed buckets increase the possibility that damage may be caused to archaeological features at the site.

“While welcoming the SCH’s archaeological investigation, the objectors condemned its lack of transparency regarding the entire process of the investigation. The committee insisted that the terms of reference and the works and method statement for the archaeological investigation should immediately be made publicly accessible so as to enable any interested parties to inform themselves about the process, and thereby have the opportunity to put forward any concerns,” a statement by residents read.

The objectors said the SCH was allowing the archaeological investigation to compromise the mature garden’s integrity before the planning application had even been considered by the Planning Authority board.

They condemned the removal of the soil and clearing of part of the mature garden that was completely eradicating the site’s natural state and destroying a natural green lung in the neighbourhood. They called upon the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) to immediately investigate whether any protected trees on the site had been removed from the site, and to stop any more soil or such trees from being removed.

Finally, the objectors also called on the Planning Authority, which oversees both the SCH and ERA, to ensure that these two entities do not contribute – through lack of monitoring and due vigilance to ensure that the specifications for the ongoing archaeological investigation are strictly observed – to the irreversible ruin of the archaeological features and garden at the site.