[WATCH] Almost 2,000 tonnes of waste collected from Mriehel Industrial Estate in two years

Almost 2,000 tonnes of waste collected from Mriehel Industrial Estate in two years

Around 1,900 tonnes of waste were collected over a two-year period in the Mriehel Industrial Estate by the group charged with the regeneration of the area, Chris Cardona said.

The Economy Minister insisted that anyone caught disposing of waste illegally in the area would have to face the consequences.

The Central Business District Foundation (CBD), which was founded in 2016, is a private-public partnership in which both government and private entities invest €400,000 per year for the regeneration of the industrial estate.

“Mriehel is not a rubbish dump and whoever dumps rubbish in the area will face justice. Enforcement and regulation are a must,” Cardona said.

The minister was speaking at a press conference at the Busy Bee Café in Mriehel.

Cardona added that Clean Malta was now collecting rubbish in the industrial estate three times a week, with cleaners also engaged in sweeping the roads twice weekly.

The CBD has grown from engaging just 18 members to employing 246 people since it was established. The administration of Mriehel falls directly within its remit as the foundation collaborates with the Qormi district police, the Local Enforcement System Agency (LESA) and Infrastructure Malta, amongst others.

“Mriehel is a locality which is synonymous with business, but a long-term strategy had been missing for a while. Businesses in the area were isolated. With the public-private partnership in place, we made giant leaps, collecting 1,900 tonnes of waste in a couple of years, creating new roads and repairing old ones,” Cardona said.

Across Farsons, a new public garden was inaugurated a few months ago. Cardona announced future projects in the pipeline—namely a flood relief project and an online system as a way to report issues such as illegalities and uncollected rubbish.

“The point is to increase accessibility—the online system will provide solutions in real time. The CBD will also be splitting Mriehel into five corporate zones with designated postal codes for easier access,” Cardona said.

The five zones will group businesses in the area into five corporate districts, each group with its own designated postal code. Cardona explained how this would facilitate the import and export of goods into and out of the area.