Although there has been one advert in the press with regard to an Environmental Impact Assessment which is to be carried out for the Fort Cambridge project, and for which the public have been invited to submit proposals, for reasons best known to themselves MEPA have not included this information on their website.

So unless you happen to be a regular reader of that particular paper – and I dare say many aren’t – the chances of you knowing about it are next to zero.

In the meantime, of course, works have been going at super speed at Fort Cambridge regardless of the as yet non-existent EIA, from 7.30 in the morning till 7.00 at night, Saturday and Sunday included.

Three basement levels have been excavated, the historic gatehouse and outbuildings have vanished into oblivion. Traffic has been diverted to run up Locker Street and down St Anthony Street and all streets in between, with the resultant jams and frustration to residents and passing motorists alike, as well as noxious fumes and accidents which are not all reported to the police. Recently painted building already show signs of black and grey fumes on their fabric from diesel and petrol engines, noise, etc., etc. All this notwithstanding, the present traffic is only a third or less of what will be if this project together, with Town Square, get off the ground.

It is to be hoped that our MPs, including the hopefuls, as well as the Sliema Council (which is not due to meet till after the EIA submission date), MEPA, MEPs and all interested parties spend a few hours in the vicinity on a busy working day.

Maybe then when they get home, their lungs full of traffic fumes and their heads spinning from the traffic and machinery noise they have just experienced, they will give a kind thought to the citizens, including my mother and father, who have to live and work there.

To all who are reading this and have the interest of this little island at heart regardless of whether they live in the vicinity or not please voice your concern to MEPA by email (eiamalta@mepa.org.mt) or by mail, not forgetting to quote reference number (PA02752/07) by latest 16 November 2007.

Remember whilst we suffer today, you may suffer tomorrow if we allow this blatant cavalier disregard to land and people to go on.

Anthony Fenech

London UK