News • January 04 2004

MEPA denies conflict of interest

Three of MEPA’s employees that made up a group of six to chose the sites for interim waste landfills will now be involved in vetting the EIA to decide whether these are the best sites, MaltaToday has learned.
In what as effectively a three-day exercise, MEPA’s acting Director of Environment, Vince Gauci, waste expert Kevin Mercieca and EIA expert Rachel Portelli made up half the team that decided the best site lay 300 metres from Mnajda temples.
These same officials are now involved in vetting the EIA reports prepared by British consultants SLR and Maltese consultants AIS, which should have performed an audit on the site selection exercise commissioned by minister Ninu Zammit to choose the best site for the landfills.
Asked by MaltaToday whether there was a conflict of interest, MEPA replied: "The assessment of the EIS is being handled by the Director General as Acting Director of the Environment Protection Directorate. Internally the persons mentioned will be consulted in their technical and professional capacity. The involvement of these persons is known to the Authority and MEPA will be taking all precautions."
According to the terms of reference of the EIA: "The Project Description Statement (PDS) commissioned by the developer needs to be audited. This audit (including sieve analysis and matrix information) should establish whether the conclusions contained in the PDS are acceptable and whether the two quarries are the preferred option. The audit should also look into the assessment of the sites from which the sites were selected. The more detailed studies of the EIA will be carried out on the preferred option."
However, the studies presented to NGOs do not contain any such audit and the option of keeping Maghtab open has also not been considered in the studies.
From their part the developers, WasteServ and the ministry for resources are insisting the studies are complete, but correspondence with MEPA indicates that they are not. Sylvana Debono, MEPA communications officer told MaltaToday: "the review of the documents submitted by WasteServ process is still in an early phase and the information will be made available when the final document is made public. The document will address all issues mentioned in the TOR."
There remains some confusion about the public consultation period with some discrepancies between what is being claimed by WasteServ and what MEPA
has said. However, according to MEPA, which is the body to decide on the consultation dates, the public consultation period has not commenced.
"The consultation process for an EIA is regulated by law. When the submissions by the client are made and the report is deemed complete MEPA will carry out consultations with the relevant Government departments and agencies as required by law. This process takes a minimum of 30 days
depending on the nature of the report. The report will then be updated by Wasteserv taking into due consideration the comments by stakeholders and MEPA.
"The public hearing is likewise regulated by law. Once a date for the public meeting is set, copies of the final document will be distributed to the stakeholders.
"The public will then have access to this document through the offices of MEPA and the local councils concerned.