New ODZ petrol station proposed in Kirkop

An ODZ petrol station is being proposed on agricultural land opposite an industrial area in Kirkop.

In its new policy on fuel stations, MEPA created a new loophole for ODZ development by allowing brand new petrol stations to be located “opposite or adjacent” to industrial areas, storage areas and “areas of containment” outside development zones.

The proposal includes a carwash, a VRT garage and a store.

The application is presented by Giancarlo Cini, who owns the petrol station in Aldo Moro Street in Marsa. The application states that the land in question is of an agricultural nature. Cini also declares that he is the sole owner of the land in question.

The original Fuel Stations Policy draft issued in April 2014 made no reference to development adjacent or opposite to industrial areas, and only allowed petrol stations re-located from urban areas to set up new petrol stations in rural ODZ areas.  

But the criteria for petrol stations sited outside development zones (ODZ) were further relaxed in the final policy document approved in March.

“Some of the submissions and a number of meetings with individuals suggested a widening of the opportunities for locating fuel stations,” a spokesperson for MEPA told MaltaToday in March.

EPA claims that in spite of the number of options given in the draft policy, experience indicated that it was difficult to locate fuel stations in the originally indicated areas. 

“It was therefore felt that the original scope for location should be widened,” MEPA said, claiming that adding the sites near areas of containment and industrial and storage areas, will partially address the concerns of developers as well as limit petrol pumps to the immediate vicinity of industrial and commercial areas.

MEPA is currently faced with at least four other ODZ applications for new or relocated petrol stations.

Two ODZ petrol stations are being proposed along Triq Burmarrad in St Paul’s Bay. One of these petrol station is being proposed by Easysell Kia Malta Ltd, on formerly agricultural land which was designated as an “area of containment” in 2006. Although ODZ, minor developments are allowed in these areas to facilitate the transition between industrial sites and rural areas. The new policy allows the development of new petrol stations in such areas. Three previous attempts to build a car wash on this plot of land were rejected by MEPA.

Another proposal in Burmarrad is being made by Construction and Turnkey House Ltd, a company owned by Joseph Attard. The proposal is adjacent to an area of containment in an area designated for its agricultural value. The Environment Protection Directorate has already strongly objected to this proposal. Another petrol station proposed by Ludwig Camilleri is being proposed along Triq l-Imdina in Attard. Still another application is proposing the relocation of a petrol station in Mosta to Triq is-Salina in Maghtab.