The green whistle-blower

Abstract

Mosta and its ever-mushrooming environs were cause for concern for Nature Trust during September. The town has simply become a conglomerate of isolated residential areas, such as Ta' Sriedak, Ta' Zokrija, Tal-Wej, Santa Margerita and l-Blata l-Gholja. The precincts of the town even encompass the hamlet of Bidnija, which has become a haven for the nouveaux riches, such as building contractors, indulging in plush villa construction, as mirrored in the Targa Gap area. Complacency over the years has ensured that such residential areas sprawl over their rural environs with no restraint placed on the nature of development - a case in point is Ta' Zokrija, where a gargantuan showroom block has been constructed just in the backdrop of the picturesque San Pawl tal-Qlejja chapel. A school is also in the offing for the area, which is also plagued by mounds of rubble in fields bordering Wied l-Isperanza. The fact that, being privately-owned, such fields can be used for the dumping of rubble by an individual with no hounding by the authorities, raises more than one eyebrow.