Arriva loses its Żebbuġ maintenance depot

Fifty-two days before the new bus service is launched, Arriva yesterday saw its application for a maintenance-cum-washing-cum-parking facility on the outskirts of Żebbuġ thrown out by the Mepa board in what must have been the biggest surprise of the year.

Even more surprising was the way in which the decision was arrived at. PN MP Joe Falzon was absent and the board met an hour late because it could not make up a quorum.

Then, when decision time arrived, Labour MP Roderick Galdes and Judge Giovanni Bonello voted in favour but Mepa chairman Austin Walker voted against.

That made four votes on either side, so the chairman then cast his casting vote, which was also against. The application was turned down.

During the hearing it also turned out that it was Transport Malta which should have provided the maintenance facility for Arriva, according to the agreement between Arriva and the government, but after a lot of selection processes, all it could come up with, according to Arriva’s Ray Fenech, were two warehouses connected by a lane that a bus could not properly turn into.

That was not enough for Arriva’s international standard, so they next focused on a site in Luret Cutajar Street, Żebbuġ. This is at present a field, in an ODZ area. The developers’ rationale was that it touched the industrial area across the road and that no other alternative was possible since that was the land the company owned and there was no other.

Keith Bastow, Arriva’s chief in Malta, explained to the board that today’s system is fragmented as regards bus care: Many park overnight in streets and there was little infrastructure.

This would be the only bus depot that Arriva will have but it will only park 30 of the 242 buses that Arriva will have. There will be secondary stations at Ċirkewwa and in Gozo and other buses will be parked in the Park & Ride facilities at Floriana and Marsa during the night.

The Żebbuġ site is roughly in the centre of Malta and it is well-served by the arterial network. Getting this bus depot by 3 July is critical.

Architect Gerald Debono explained that the road leading to the site was quite wide for the buses to pass through. The plant would only occupy 10% of the land: It will have eight pit lanes for the maintenance of buses – they will all undergo a maintenance programme once every 12 weeks. There would also be water interceptors and filters to prevent filthy water or oil to seep into the ground.

The Directorate official explained that this is a 9,300 square metre site (so it does not qualify for an Environmental Impact Assessment). The Agriculture Department had no objection to the application. The policy which permitted this application was the Open Storage one which is allowed if no possible alternative can be found within the development zones.

The Environment Protection Department at Mepa had no objection, not even after the original site was increased during the processing of the application. The only problem EPD seemed to have was with the intensification of the site, which was resolved by shifting the landscaped area to the side nearer the ODZ.

As to representations and objections, there was one unnamed objector who first complained the application could not be found on the map server but who later withdrew his objection.

The Directorate officer continued to explain that while such an application should be 100 metres away from nearby residences, this was actually 270 metres away. However, he pointed out in the direction of the road to Siġġiewi when actually there are residences far nearer in the other direction.

The Directorate’s recommendation was Grant for two main reasons: The Agriculture Department’s no objection and the Open Storage policy guidelines.

When the meeting was opened to the public, Astrid Vella from Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar said this would test whether Mepa is truly reformed or not. No serious study seems to have been made to find alternative sites. There was huge pressure behind this application, as evidenced from the fact that the application took just nine days to be validated, against the usual 20.

The board had just been presented with misinformation about the Open Storage policy guideline. There is a huge veto against approving any building in ODZ especially on agricultural land. Ms Vella added she had no faith in the Agriculture Department ever since they claimed there were no trees on the Għolja tal-Papa, when in fact there were 83.

No serious study seems to have been made on possible alternative sites. As for the site not being large enough for an EIA, this is because the threshold is far too big for the circumstances in Malta.

As a possible alternative, Ms Vella suggested a depot on the Mrieħel Bypass where there are many unused warehouses or showrooms which could have been converted to Arriva’s needs.

She was followed by Alex Vella from the Ramblers’ Association who made much the same arguments. The bus reform has been announced for the past five years but this application was only lodged six months ago.

Ms Vella intervened and asked Mr Fenech where the Gozo Bus depot will be. She was told this will be in the Xewkija Industrial Estate and this confirmed all her contentions.

Mr Fenech retorted some of the things he was hearing could lead to legal proceedings and he asked Mepa to protect him as the applicant. Arriva could not apply before December because that was when they signed the agreement with the government. And TM had committed themselves to finding and providing the depot but then could only come up with two warehouses.

The public bus reform is a serious one and will remove hundreds of buses from the roads. It is in the national interest to approve this application, even at the cost of agricultural land.

Reacting to a further comment by Ms Vella, Mepa chairman Austin Walker said the board is under no pressure at all to approve the application. He wanted to know why no photomontage of the site with the bus depot was presented to the board but was told this is done only when there are doubts about the application.

An official from EPD said the site does not qualify for an EIA; the application will have an operational permit and a justification exists (the Open Storage one). Besides, the first draft of the application had been rejected by EPD and was redesigned as a result.

Mr Walker asked EPD whether they thought extra studies were needed but was told none were.

When the application was next discussed by the board, Joe Farrugia said this is a valuable reform but the site is wrong. There was no need to take up nine tmien in ODZ. There are hundreds of unused sites in what are known as ‘containment areas’. There were many sites in Qormi or Luqa that could have fitted the bill. Perhaps this land was the only one owned by the applicant but this was no justification.

When the possibility of such a bus depot being housed in one of the unused factories in an industrial estate was brought up (Ħal Far was mentioned at one point although it would have been too Far) the meeting was told that Malta Industrial Parks’ policy is not to allow Open Storage in industrial estates.

Roderick Galdes, MP, said this was no speculative venture, nor was this some agricultural land just below Rabat. This was an area that was contiguous to an industrial area.

It was also pointed out that one of the conditions imposed was that Arriva would revert the area back to agricultural land if it stops using it.

Philip Manduca noticed an area on the map that said Archaeological Remains and asked about it. It turned out this is a site just next to the applied-for site and some tombs have been found in it.

The EPD official said that siting this bus depot in an area of containment would create even bigger problems. Ms Vella asked why no comparative studies were made and if they were, why were they not made public.

Then came the vote, and the huge surprise it brought with it.

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=125137