Maghtab rehabilitation, Tal-Ghallis projects on track for 2016 completion

New treatment plant to handle twice the waste • Video by Ray Attard

Minister for the environment and climate change Leo Brincat today announced that the Maghtab rehabilitation project and the tal-Ghallis plant are on track to completion by 2016. Brincat spoke after a visit to Maghtab and Malta North, the site of a new plant.

Brincat said that although there were rumours that the government was to shelve the project, the MEPA permits and approval were undertaken by the administration. Millions in EU funds are also tied into the project, which Brincat said would have been lost had it not been for careful management.

This, he said, confirms that the government is committed to undertaking projects that would improve the country, whether or not the current government had launched them.

The project, when completed, is expected to reduce the relience on landfills as well as becoming a source of energy.

Brincat said that it is a positive indication of WasteServ's progress that efforts have been made to reduce the odours and inconvenience cased by one of its plants, and so-called odour mitigation measures have already been implemented.

The minister concluded by saying that the government remains committed to improving the standards of waste management and the overall reduction of waste, a committment made by the government at the beginning of the year.