James Debono
After a MaltaToday probe, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage (SCH) will be inspecting the new Lufthansa Technik site to ensure that a unique temple, known as id-Debdieba, which lies buried under the runway, is not tampered with.
The temple was buried under rubble in the early 1970s in the development of the new airport runway. During this period Prime Minister Dom Mintoff was renowned for overruling objections from archaeologists.
The foundation stone of the new Lufthansa project was inaugurated last Thursday by the Prime Minister. The project is set to cover the equivalent of 10 storeys set over 27,000 square metres – two-thirds of which will be underground – and was approved through a sheer Development Notification Order (DNO): a procedure normally used to approve air-conditioning tanks, internal alterations and temporary structures.
This was only made possible because of a legal notice issued in April, exempting development within the airport’s parameters from requiring a normal permit.
Over the past weeks MaltaToday received reports that the new development lies in the proximity of the Debdieba Neolithic temple. MaltaToday immediately notified the SCH and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
The Debdieba site was first excavated by Dr Thomas Ashby at the suggestion of Sir Themistocles Zammit in 1914. The finds yielded some pottery dating back to around 3000-2500 BC.
Megalithic ruins at id-Debdieba “on the road to Hal Farrug” are listed in the Antiquities Act of 1932. Lufthansa Technik’s new hangar lies opposite the Poligas plant, also in the vicinity of Hal Farrug.
MEPA claims that according to its records, the archaeological remains are 450 metres away from the proposed hangar, but the SCH’s acting superintendent Nathaniel Cutajar insists that further investigations are required. Cutajar said the last study on the site was a plan by Evans in the early 1970s.
“It should be stressed that should any remains of this site still be in existence, then these are protected by law,” Cutajar said.
Cutajar pointed out that, when processing such an application, “MEPA should make ample provision to ensure that any archaeological remains are detected, assessed and were necessary protected.”
But the development did not even pass through the scrutiny of a normal development permit as the project was approved in just four days, after MEPA received a DNO on 24 May 2007.
MEPA claimed it issued clearance for the hangar since there was no constraint or reference to archaeological remains on the site.
“According to our records, id-Debdieba is 450m south-west of the Lufthansa Technik site,” a spokesman said.
But following questions from MaltaToday, MEPA asked the architect of the project to consult with the Superintendence.
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