60% of quarries outside stipulated boundaries

by Cynthia Busuttil

Over 60 per cent of quarries in Malta have gone beyond the boundaries stipulated by their permit or are operating without a permit.
These quarries need to regularise their position, director of planning Godwin Cassar said, adding that enforcement was one of the main problems facing the Planning Authority in all sections.
The authority yesterday launched the “Minerals Subject Plan for the Maltese Islands” – its first attempt at a comprehensive framework providing for the future supply of minerals, and at controlling the impacts of extraction.
“There is a need to study alternative resources because the ones we have are finite. There are also environmental constraints,” Dr Cassar said.
The quarry industry needs to upgrade its practices and operate in a more environmentally-friendly way, he said. Dr Cassar added that although there had been some improvement over the years, this was still not enough.
The plan includes the protection of important landscapes and sites. Policies were also aimed at minimising the effects of “transporting minerals, noise, dust, blasting and visual intrusion”.
The minerals plan is the fifth the authority is issuing. In the next two months it will commission another 11 plans.
The key mineral extracted on the Maltese Islands is limestone. It is used primarily in the construction industry, which requires a constant supply of materials.
Environmental Management Unit team manager Dimitrio Duca said a study estimated that existing quarries have resources for over 30 years. The plan, he said, aimed to make resources last as long as possible.
The plan is mainly concerned with stone extraction but also contains sections on oil, gas and clays.