Pushing Attard further towards Rabat

Abstract

PA 02153/10 was recently submitted to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, proposing to develop a 1,000-grave cemetery, crematorium, service room, 75 parking spaces and other ancillary facilities on a site of staggering proportions (17,000 m2) in Attard. The site lies off Mdina Road in Attard and skirts Wied Ta' Rmiedi on its rear end. The site is earmarked as a Strategic Open Space Gap separating Attard and Rabat, thus constraining any development on site to be of an 'open space' type. The application's Project Description Statement (PDS) says the proposed development is justified by demographics (Malta has an ageing population and thus increasing demands for burial spaces are an issue), geography (the proposed location would service many other localities besides Attard and Rabat), spatial constraints (the existing cemeteries in Attard and Rabat are hemmed in my residential development on all sides) and current state/use of the proposed site, which is described as being in a dilapidated, abandoned and 'infertile' state, punctuated by rubble and debris (open dump).