Illegal excavations next to Qrendi dolmen

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has issued an enforcement order against extensive excavation works in the vicinity of a Bronze Age dolmen.

The dolmen, considered to be one of the largest ever found in Malta, is located on the road leading from Qrendi to Siggiewi which passes in front of a ‘concrete plant’ and quarry.

Measuring four and a half metres by four metres, the dolmen has a field hut built on it which has a flight of stairs leading to its top. The slab dates back to the Bronze Age (2500-1500 BC) while the hut was built in more modern times.

The dolmen stands at the edge of a field, which drops sharply away on its eastern side into a quarry.

The extensive illegalities in the dolmen’s officially protected buffer zone include top soil removal, deposit of inert material, illegal landscaping, excavation works, construction of rooms, wall and reservoir, extension of an existing room, gates and concrete flooring.

A ramp leading to the quarry has also been illegally constructed and a number of tunnels used as garages and stores have been excavated to the southern part of the quarry.

The owners who own the quarry have appealed the enforcement action.

In 2009 MEPA had regularised an illegally constructed boundary wall around the quarry and the construction of a timber gate despite a recommendation by the Planning Directorate to refuse the permit.