Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg has said it would be a shame if a fire had to destroy one of Malta’s few wooded areas.
This summer’s high temperatures have fuelled massive forest fires that have raged across the globe.
“It would be so tragic if – accidentally or possibly even intentionally – someone were to start a fire in, say, Miżieb, that would destroy all the trees in the area,” Borg told Bis-Serjetà.
“I mean, yes, if the woods were reduced to ashes, that would mean we could potentially build a new four-lane bypass between Manikata and Xemxija, which residents of both these bustling towns are crying out for because it would shorten their commute by two seconds, but I’m definitely not thinking about that,” the minister added.
“I’m just saying, if some irresponsible citizen were to discard a glass bottle or other object that could act as a magnifying glass that directed the sun’s heat towards a patch of dried grass, eventually setting the whole place ablaze, I certainly wouldn’t reward them with €5,000 and then get straight onto the phone to one of my contractor mates to cover the entire area in tarmac and concrete.”
Borg added that it was also a pity that Malta’s civil protection department was probably not equipped to deal with a large wildfire.
“I guess we could ask Sicily for help, but they’re dealing with their own fires and probably wouldn’t get here in time. It would be an unprecedented catastrophe and I’m definitely not getting hard just thinking about it,” he said.
