ODZ Xewkija cemetery set for 495 grave extension

A decision on this project is expected to be taken by MEPA’s Environment Planning Commission on 4 October.

The land is already committed through a permit issued in 2000 and renewed in 2004.

But since works were never carried out, these permits have expired. The local plan also identified the area as a cemetery.

Yet, the original permit was only issued in 2000 following the intervention of the Inter-Departimental Planning Committee, which consists of representatives of government departments chaired by a permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister.

In fact, the original case officer report issued in 1998 made it clear that the development should be refused because the site in question was of “considerable scenic beauty.”

The report also described the area earmarked for the cemetery as “well cultivated patch of land which has a number of fruit trees.

“The cemetery will definitely destroy good quality agricultural land,” the report, issued in 1998, said.

The Department of Public Health had also originally objected to the development but these objections were later withdrawn.

The IDPC recommended the approval of the cemetery on the condition that the excavated soil is used to reclaim barren land on government land adjacent to the cemetery and an increase in the number of trees within the proposed cemetery.

11 years later, MEPA is faced with a fait accompli since the site is already committed. The latest case officer report states that the current application is identical to the one approved in 2000.

An inspection has revealed that in the past years “several mounts of soil have been excavated.”

The report refers to the Gozo local plan approved in 2006, which reserved the site to be used as a cemetery.

One of the conditions being imposed in the latest permit is that at least one Cypress tree is grown for every five burial plots as recommended by the local plan.

10% of the additional graves will be allotted as common graves as required by the Department of Public Health.