Birzebbuga objects to quarry outside €4 million park

A hardstone quarry proposed on agricultural land in Bengħajsa will be just 600m away from the €4 million family park that is being billed as a green lung for Birżebbuġa

The Birżebbuġa council is objecting to the quarry, noting the close vicinity to the park approved in March 2021, which lies midway between the park and the coastline, separated by a 600m tract of open agricultural fields. “The proposal is not compatible with the rural nature of the area, and specifically the park at Bengħajsa which the Planning Authority has deemed fit to approve,” said architect Carmel Cacopardo, also leader of the Green Party ADPD, who is advising the council on this issue with its objection to the proposed quarry.

The new park will have 8,000 indigenous newly-planted trees. The proposed quarry would also be sited just 200m away from Fort Bengħajsa.

Residents filing objections expressed concerns on the emission of dust particles, noise pollution and vibrations from the quarry, warning of negative impacts on the surrounding environment like the dust coating of vegetation, contamination of soils, pollution and loss of habitat in the area. They warned that the road infrastructure is not adequate for trucks.

The hardstone quarry is being proposed over a 6,200sq.m plot of agricultural land just off Triq il-Fortizza, less than 200m away from the shoreline near a massive solar farm developed by the Hili group on a former landfill.

If approved, the quarry will touch on the buffer zone of an Area of Ecological Importance. Paul Falzon, who owns a number of other quarries in Dingli and Rabat, is proposing the quarry. Falzon does not own the land in question but was granted consent by the landowners to apply. In the past years the Planning Authority has issued a number of permits related to agriculture on the same site.

Hardstone is usually used for the preparation of cement, for concrete mixing and for roadbeds. The stone is then processed into fragments by crushing machines and then sorted according to the particle size.

Malta’s largest hardstone quarry, owned by Charles Polidano, is located at Lapsi next to the coastal cliffs at Ix-Xaqqa bordering the Irdumijiet ta’ Malta Special Area of Conservation (SAC).