Environment authority must establish responsibility for 'barbaric ruin' of Wied Qirda

A number of environmental NGOs and a Żebbuġ local councillor have filed legal action calling on the Environment and Resources Authority to establish who was personally and directly responsible for ordering and authorising the “barbaric ruin” of Wied Qirda.   

Moviment Graffitti, Friends of the Earth Malta, Futur Ambjent Wieħed, independent Żebbuġ local councillor Steve Zammit Lupi and Arnold Cassola, demanded that ERA should uphold the law and remedy the environmental damage done.

An aerial view Wied Qirda, photo credit: Moviment Graffitti

The group said that Wied Qirda has been mutilated mercilessly as a result of unauthorised works being carried out in this protected valley by Infrastructure Malta.

“The country path has been tarmacked over and widened considerably, the topography of the valley bed has been changed a large structure is being built over the valley bed and the very physical characteristics of the valley have been changed,” the groups said.

Photo credit: Moviment Graffitti

The works were carried out without the authorisation of ERA, in an ecologically sensitive zone without any form of an approved method statement. “It is unacceptable, retrograde and barbaric for a government agency [Infrastructure Malta] to bulldoze a special area of conservation without any regard for the law whatsoever.”

A spokesperson said that it would add “insult to injury to have Infrastructure Malta pay to remedy the environmental damage when Infrastructure Malta is paid for by the taxpayer.”

"The taxpayer would first have financed the illegal works and then also their removal. It is high time that personal liability is assumed by those responsible for the outright destruction of Wied Qirda, and also to set the yardstick for similar misbehaviour in the future. Law-abiding citizens should not have to pay for Frederick Azzopardi’s and Infrastructure Malta's mess.”

READ ALSO: Criminal complaint filed against Infrastructure Malta over Wied Qirda works