Ricasoli tender issued one day after environmental permit issued to Falzon’s Marsa plant

The tender conditions specify that the bidder must have managed a hazardous management installation or a port reception facility for ship-generated waste for a period of at least 10 years. It also states that the company must be already in possession of an environmental permit to operate such an installation.

A government spokesperson cited the "national interest" and the need to safeguard environmental standards to justify these conditions, but prospective bidders are complaining that these conditions have practically excluded most operators from the bidding process.

The tender was issued just a few days after the Malta Environment and Planning Authority issued a four-year Integrated Pollution Prevention Control permit to Falzon Waste Oils, one of the few Maltese companies which has run a hazardous waste facility for over 10 years. 

Over the past months, the company was involved in controversy over odours affecting Hexagon House and the Menqa area. The situation drastically improved after MEPA clamped down on bunkering activities in the area, closing MOBC and subjecting  Falzon Waste Oils to numerous inspections. 

But in December 2011, a stop notice halting Falzon Waste Oils' operations was issued by MEPA. The plant reopened after a series of trials and inspections by MEPA and no reports of odours were received after that date. At the time, Falzon Waste Oils was operating under a 12-month environmental permit issued in 2010.

U-turn on Ricasoli?

A report by MIMCOL on Grand Harbour regeneration issued before the 2008 election described the tank cleaning facility as "an eyesore".

According to the report, the proximity of the tank-cleaning facility to the Ricasoli Fort also poses a health risk to the visiting public, "not to mention the environmental hazard this brings to the surrounding area especially if future development is to take place in the area".

Area Policies GK19 and General Policy GE07 of the Grand Harbour Plan  both support measures to reduce the impact of the Ricasoli Tank Cleaning Installation and seek to pursue the long term removal of the Installation altogether, should a suitable and feasible alternative site be found. 

But a spokesperson for the Ministry for Finance insists that the decision to issue the tender to retain the site for tank-cleaning activities was taken after all attempts to relocate this activity failed.

In fact in December 2008, the Malta Maritime Authority had issued a Request for Proposals for the Provision of a Port Reception Facility for Ship Generated Waste Oils where the selected operator was requested to take over the responsibility for the operation of the Ricasoli facility for a temporary period; to build a new reception facility and transfer all operations from Ricasoli to a new site and to operate and to manage the new facility.

Only one compliant bidder submitted a bid and the bidder was in a position to provide a new site, thus satisfying government's goal of relocating the Tank Cleaning Facility from Ricasoli. 

"Unfortunately however, the new site provided by the bidder failed to obtain MEPA approval for the operation of a Tank Cleaning Facility," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance explained.

In this circumstance the government had no choice but to retain the present site due to its obligation s under the IMO MARPOL Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. The Convention obliges signatories  to ensure suitable facilities for the reception of oily mixtures, dirty ballast and tank washings from ships visiting Maltese Ports .

"The government had no other option but to issue a call for tenders for the operation of the port reception facility for ship-generated waste oils and cargo residues which had been located at Ricasoli since 1965," the Ministry spokesperson explained. With regards to environmental and health risks posed by the site, the tender includes a specification requiring the site to be issued with an IPPC Permit. Similar risks will be mitigated as part of this permitting process.

'No place for amateurs' - government

One of the conditions specified in the tender is that bidders must produce clear documentary evidence that they are the operators of at least one IPPC permitted site managing hazardous waste. 

Operators operating plants in other countries can also apply as long as they possess a European equivalent of MEPA's IPPC permitting system for a similar plant.

The Finance Ministry spokesperson justified this condition citing "the national interest" and to ensure maximum environmental safeguards.

"Given Malta's obligation at international law to provide the facility coupled with the sensitivity of the area and the importance and technical nature of the operation, government cannot afford to risk entrusting such an important and sensitive operation to amateurs and therefore opted for practices enshrined in European directives," a Finance Ministry spokesperson told MaltaToday.

Furthermore, the government considers the collection, storage and treatment of these wastes to be a highly specialised field.

"The government wishes to ensure that only organisations having proven reliable experience that they can perform these works will apply, and ensure successful technical operation of the plant."

Another  specific condition is to provide evidence that the bidder has been operating a port facility, and have managed a hazardous management installation and/or port reception facility for ship generated waste for a period of at least 10 years.

According to government, this condition was made to ensure that only persons with the necessary experience and technical knowledge gauged by international standards would apply. 

"The 10 year time factor was used because this type of installation starts to undergo major normative maintenance programmes every 10 years and it was deemed as crucial to ensure that the new operator would have already had the experience of executing similar maintenance programmes in the facility which they would have been operating, thus providing government ensures that bidders not only competent in operating the plant, but also maintaining it".

Bidders must also produce evidence that they have experience in operating a port facility, having a Port Security Plan compliant with the IMO International Ship and Port Facility Code.

Too close for comfort?

The call for tenders was issued on 4 May only a day after the MEPA board issued a permit for Falzon Waste Oils.

On 3 May, MEPA granted an environment permit to a waste oils company in Marsa after the board heard that no complaints of foul smells in the Menqa area had been received since preventive measures were put in place.

The board heard how a stop notice was issued in December following complaints of bad odours in the area. However, after measures were put in place and several inspections were made, the stop notice was waived and since then MEPA has received no complaints of smells had been received.

The environment permit has been issued for the duration of four years. It allows Falzon Waste Oils to collect, separate and store waste oils from domestic and shipping operations prior to export.

The company was also granted a permit for the on-site treatment of waste water generated from the treatment of waste oils.

In July, the company's officials were cleared of dumping oils in the drainage system earlier in the month because the investigation had failed to satisfy criminal proceedings which could lead to conviction.

The manholes at Spencer Hill and Timber Wharf in Marsa were inspected in March 2009 after residents complained of bad odours. Two manholes were found to have a considerable quantity of oil which should never have been dumped into the drainage system.

Waste Oils was suspected to be the culprit after an investigation that involved the Water Services Corporation, the planning authority and Transport Malta.

The company's property was inspected in April 2009 and a flexible pipe, the ends of which were covered in oil similar to that found in the drainage system, was found connected to the company's plant on one side and to an unused bathroom drain on the other.