Efforts to relocate 17 putrid cow farms sited within historical forts or next to homes and schools and inside a secluded rural complex in Tal-Kabocci in Siggiewi, has met another obstacle: the land in question is presently leased by the government to Buxom Chicken director Edward Borg, who wants to develop the site as an “equestrian village.”
The proposed mega-farm for cows had already been moved from another site in Siggiewi as this was deemed too close to the Dar tal-Providenza home for the disabled. The new site is 750m away from the nearest residents, but right within the land leased to Borg.
Borg, whose lease expires in 2015, is furious about the plans, claiming the government is fully aware he wants to develop the land into two racetracks, stables, a polo arena, a horse hospital, as well as shops and restaurants.
He even prepared a DVD advertising his project as an “agro-tourism attraction” which would attract Nordic tourists who can leave their horses in Malta during the cold winter months.
The government still intends to relocate the farms and terminate Borg’s lease, saying it is fulfilling its responsibility “to safeguard the interest of this industry while protecting families who presently live next to cow farms.”
Borg claims ministers Louis Galea and Francis Zammit Dimech had encouraged him to pursue his project when he presented them his plans. He also says the Prime Minister promised him to ask someone from his office to assess his proposal in a separate meeting.
But both Borg and the government applied for MEPA permits for each of their projects on the same piece of land. The Ministry for Environment and Rural Affair’s project statement describes Borg’s leased property as “an abandoned poultry farm used as a parking place for redundant containers and trucks.”
Borg however insists part of the site is used to rear chickens, although he admits the site was “semi-abandoned” for some time because he faced financial difficulties because of “the government’s failure to protect the poultry industry after joining EU.”
The government insists the poultry farm only constitutes a part of the available land and that it can still be accommodated within government plans.
Borg, a vocal critic of Environment Minister George Pullicino, claims he is being victimised for daring to criticise the government for not applying the “safeguard clause” on poultry imports in an interview published in MaltaToday in December 2006.
He said he only learnt of the government’s plans from Church newspaper Il-Gens. “Nobody had the decency to inform me of this decision. Despite my continuous requests for a meeting, I was completely ignored by Pullicino. This is indecent and nasty,” Borg said.
In August he filed a judicial protest against Pullicino and the Director for Agriculture holding them responsible for any damages and demanding they desist from pursuing their plans on the land leased to him.
Asked whether it intends to compensate Borg, the ministry said it would act according to the conditions of the lease, originally issued on condition that the farm is used for agricultural purposes. Despite his intention to abandon poultry farming, Borg insists he will still be respecting the conditions of the lease.