'They just turned up and bulldozed our property’

Owners of the land adjacent to Tal-Balal Road are fuming over the failure of any State entity to inform them that part of their private property would be taken up to widen the thoroughfare. Aggrieved landowners who spoke to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity expressed disbelief at the manner in which the entire project, spearheaded by Infrastructure Malta, was being rushed through. “We received a formal notice in writing of the start of works on our property when parts of it had already been bulldozed and the soil cleared. Nobody bothered to inform us in advance of these plans or start talks on expropriation,” they said. Launched last month, the widening project aims to alleviate traffic around Mater Dei Hospital and the university for vehicles approaching from San Ġwann and Naxxar. It immediately fuelled controversy when it transpired that works had started without a development permit. This prompted criticism from the Church Environment Commission, which has accused public entities of showing disdain for proper planning processes. Meanwhile, the agency has submitted an application to sanction the ongoing works, which it aims to complete by the start of the scholastic...