Activists lament institutionalised ‘hatred of trees’ during tense environment committee session

Environmental activists accused the government of having what appeared to be a “hatred of trees and the environment” during a session of parliament’s environment committee on Monday evening.

Both Transport minister Ian Borg and Environment minister Jose Herrera were present for a tense meeting of the committee, during which activists and residents voiced their frustration at the number of trees being uprooted to make way for infrastructural upgrades, as well as what they said was a lack of holistic planning by the government on transport.

Monday’s session was intended to discuss the government’s plans for the Central Link Project after a request was made by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi after it was revealed that the government’s plans for the road would see over 200 trees uprooted.

Azzopardi noted that since the first article was published, the government had changed plans three more times, but had not yet submitted the third and fourth version of the plans.

He stressed that it was imperative for the final plans to be made available, while questioning what sort of consultation had taken place regarding the project.

Village roads shouldn’t be main roads

Borg said at the start of the session that plans to widen the road had been in place for decades, and that many people who lived in the Attard area were desperate for the project to be completed.

He said that while the original plans envisaged a six-lane road, this had been reduced to four.

The government has said that only three trees will be uprooted according to revised plans however these have not yet been published

On Monday morning, a group of some 400 individuals signed a letter to the Prime Minister, calling on him to step in and revise the project. Borg claimed that after doing some research it had transpired that only 98 of the 432 individuals who had signed the letter were actually from Attard, and could hardly be considered representative of the community.

“I haven’t yet heard the Attard local council say whether it is in favour or against this project. I think that’s a legitimate question,” Borg said.

READ MORE: Attard residents write to Prime Minister over Central Link Project concerns

“Contrary to the impression being given, there are many people in the area who, because of the current traffic management system, see thousands of cars passing through narrow roads in their village,” he said.

Government adopting holistic approach on transport

Borg insisted that the present government had inherited a country, which had lost its faith in public transport after a 2011 reform.

He said that since then, the number of people using busses had doubled from 23 million passengers a year to over 50 million.

Moreover, he said that efforts were also being made to offer incentives to standard vehicles, such as incentives on motorbikes, bikes and electric vehicles.

Similarly, Borg said, more was being done to encourage the use of ferries.

He said the government’s efforts went beyond the widening of roads, and that the term was being abused by those who wanted to disrupt the government’s work. Borg insisted that certain bottlenecks in the country were absurd and needed to be addressed. “Its not a matter of widening roads but of common sense.”

More trees planted this year than in last three years combined

Herrera said that he understood the important of protecting the country’s environment but also noted that “experts” were saying that the country’s was at full carrying capacity, and that the widening of some roads was necessary.

Environment minister Jose Herrera said 12,000 trees will have been planted by the end of the year

Herrera said that 12,000 trees will have been planted by the end of the year, excluding those planted the Environment Landscapes Consortium (ELC) as well as those planted by other organisations using government funds.

“Never have more trees been planted in this year, I think that more trees have been planted this year that were planted in the last three years,” stressed the minister.

Residents ridiculed by government authorities

Steven Pace, an Attard resident speaking on behalf of the Attard Residents Environment Network (AREN), said the network was not against the project but was disappointed at the cynical approach being adopted by Borg, who said that Pace’s considerations where ultimately a case of ‘Not in my back yard syndrome”.

He stressed that one being critical did not mean they had a hidden agenda, and that ultimately what the network wanted was the best possible solution for everyone.

“What we want is to sit down and see how we can find a way forward,” he said, adding the network had been ridiculed during a meeting it held with Transport Malta.

A considerable area of agricultural land would be lost to the project said Pace, arguing that while trees could somehow be replaced, the loss of agricultural land could not.

‘How are we meant to earn a living?’

Victor Tonna, a farmer who the committee heard would lose up to four green houses and a number of water reservoirs if the project were to go through, said that he did not know what was going to happen.

He said that while the government had said that farmers would be better off, this surely did not apply to him.

Victor Tonna (centre) said the fields that were threatened by the project were his only source of income

The committee heard how the road passing through Tonna’s land would significantly reduce the quality of his produce, with Tonna stressing that he had no other source of income.

READ ALSO: The roads go ever on - Ian Borg

Parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes asked Tonna whether his land was government or privately owned to which Tonna said it was the former. He also confirmed that he had previously been granted EU funds to update and improve the methods he used.

Balzan trees needed to go

Kamra tal-periti vice president Simone Vella Lenicker questioned how the new road fit in to the country’s Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED) which she said emphasised the need to shift from the construction of new roads to better integration of public transport.

Turning to the recent controversy surrounding two trees that had been uprooted in Balzan to make way for the road to be widened and a pavement to be built, Vella Lenicker insisted that plans for the road could have included the trees.

Balzan mayor Ian Spiteri said that two trees that were controversially uprooted in Balzan needed to go

Balzan mayor Ian Spiteri said however that the project could only be done if the trees were removed.

He said that the trees had been moved “a few metres up” from their current location and were being watered three times a week.

“I know where the trees are, they are few metres away and being watered three times a week,” said Spiteri, underscoring the fact that he was from the locality and also had a connection with the trees.

He continued by saying however that his council had an obligation to ensure people’s safety and that widening the road and introducing a pavement needed the trees to be moved.

“They were a hazard,” he said. “My first responsibility is to the residents of Balzan and their safety.”

Tree marked for uprooting only one in Malta

Alfred Baldacchino, an environmentalist and former head of the Environment Protection Department lamented the “orgy of tree killing” that was taking place on the island.

READ ALSO: National interest at the heart of Central Link project, Labour MP says

He underscored his belief that people needed to be given more information about the government’s plans, without which they could not be expected to get on board.

Baldacchino noted that one of the trees along the Rabat road was in fact the only known one of that particular species in Malta.

He said that it was particularly worrying that authorities appeared not to know this fact.

Ghislaine Calleja from Din l-Art Helwa said that according to the plans submitted on 16 June, 787 trees were to be uprooted, and approximately 50,000 sq.m. of ODZ land used up by the Central Link Project.

Frederick Azzopardi (right) said that plans for the project would keep changing until the project was put up for public consultation

Cost-benefit analysis considered tunnel

Frederick Azzopardi, the CEO of the government’s new roads agency said that the bottleneck in Triq in-Nutar Zarb needed to be addressed and that there was carrying out an intervention on that particular junction alone would have created bottlenecks near the Attard Corinthia, MFSA, and at the junction close to Mount Carmel Hospital.

He noted that a number of proposals put forward by the Bicycle Advocacy Group were being considered, while stressing that plans would continue to change before the project was put up for public consultation.

Referring to a proposal for the construction of a tunnel underneath the road, Azzopardi said that it had been considered when carrying out a cost-benefit analysis.

“In the short-term the tunnel gives the same results as the preferred option, up until the first 10 years. Beyond that it starts to fail and will have the same result as a do nothing scenario,” he said.

Azzopardi addressed a number of other suggestions that were considered, and pointed out that long-term many of them would were not viable.