Environment authority, NGOs object to proposed Marsaxlokk car park

Marsaxlokk is to be served by a massive 11,400 square-metre car park near the football ground on Triq il-Kavallerezza, according to an application filed by the former energy and health ministry.

The government claims that the area behind the Marsaxlokk football pitch, which is located outside development zones (ODZ), has been identified as the most suitable location because a large part of the site is already disturbed. 

But the Environment and Resources Authority is objecting, noting that the area is disturbed simply because it has been left open and is used for the parking of unauthorized vehicles.

The ERA also noted that an area directly adjacent to the football pitch is already used for parking, and that leaving the land in such a state “should not be considered as a stepping stone” for encroaching on agricultural land to transform it into a surface car park.

Both Din l-Art Helwa and Nature Trust have also objected to the take-up of undeveloped ODZ land for a car park.

Although it had not objected to the development, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has noted that the site lies in the vicinity of various archaeological remains and that the remains of a Roman villa were also reported in the same area. It warned that any development in the area might yield “accidental discoveries” which may hinder the execution of any permit granted in this site.

The car park forms part of a €6 million embellishment project announced in June, just as the Panamagate scandal which engulfed the car park’s proponent, then energy minister Konrad Mizzi, was raging.