Crematorium proposed in private ODZ cemetery

A proposal for a 1,000-grave cemetery on a site outside development boundaries along Mdina Road between Attard and Rabat includes plans for Malta's first crematorium, as well as a multi-denominational service room.

Luqa Developments Limited is proposing the project to a company whose directors include Pio Camilleri - formerly a close collaborator of the late Lorry Sant.

The architect of the project is Labour MP Charles Buhagiar.

A project development statement presented by architect firm Med Design to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority states that the cemetery would be the first one in Malta to utilise cremation methods to dispose of the dead, thus resulting in a more efficient use of land. 

The cemetery will also include a 6-metre high "service room" described as "a place where people of diverse beliefs could worship in a serene manner".

The cemetery will also include a car park for 75 cars and a small retail outlet selling candles and flowers.

A project development statement presented to MEPA justifies the development.

The developers claim that their aim is to provide the country with a "versatile cemetery".

It also notes that 15% of pending applications for graves hail from Rabat and Attard, two localities whose cemeteries cannot be expanded. 20,000 burials can be accommodated in a 20-year period according to the PDS.

The developers who own the land in question justify the development by describing the site as an "unused bare dump" which is in a "very bad state of abandonment and currently used as a waste dumping area".

The PDS includes photos documenting the bad state of the site. But the study acknowledges that 20% of the site is under cultivation.

In the local plan site is designated as a strategic open gap where no buildings can be developed.

The developers claim that in view of this designation the development of a cemetery is "the best use for the site in question to maximise the commercial potential of the site".

But the local plan forbids any non-agricultural development on the site.

The graves will be lined with a "special composite material" to ensure to prevent the seepage of water from the graves to the water table.  

MEPA's Heritage panel has called for a rejection of the application, as it would involve agricultural land take-up and is adjacent to Wied ta' Rmiedi.