Marsaskala 'front' demands publication of report on recycling plant

The front against the Sant' Antnin recycling plant has called on the Ombudsman to publish a report on the presumed irregularities in the construction of the plant, seven years after its publication was withheld by the same office.

In 2006, the former MEPA Auditor Joseph Falzon had compiled a report on the claimed irregularities during the demolition and construction of the recycling plant in Marsaskala, however the MEPA board had requested the Ombudsman to suspend Falzon's investigations and bar the publication of the report.

The Ombudsman, Joe Said Pullicino had said that the decision to suspend Falzon's investigations was taken to ensure that the publication of the report would not prejudice the outcome before the MEPA Appeals Board.

In a letter sent to Said Pullicino, the front explained that once that the appeal process is over, the report should be made public.

The process was concluded in February and although the planning and environment commissioner David Pace had recommended MEPA to publish the report, the authority claimed that such a decision could only be taken by the Ombudsman.

Although the report has never been published, MEPA had issued a 12-page reaction to the report.

The front pointed out that MEPA's actions were unjust "not only against the front and Marsaskala residents but also against the country which has a right to know about the irregularities which went on in the process."

Earlier this year, the group urged Environment Minister Leo Brincat to commission an independent inquiry into the process that led to the demolition and subsequent development of the WasteServ plant in Marsaskala.