New WasteServ board appointed, ‘to start functioning within a week’

• Economists, academics and lawyers take over

A new WasteServ board, which includes academics, lawyers and economists, has been appointed by Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia and is expected to start functioning within a week.

Minister Farrugia recently appointed Prof. Frank Bezzina as chairman of the new board, replacing David Borg, who had been appointed by the Muscat administration.

Bezzina is Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Malta (UoM). Tonio Montebello has so far been retained as chief executive officer.

The new chairman is not the only academic on the new board, but is joined by sociologist and university lecturer Maria Brown and UoM deputy registrar Colin Borg, who has a background in Private and Public Sector Management and Public Policy.

Economist Kirstin Ancilleri and lawyer Carlos Bugeja are also members of the board.

The other two members are Dorita Maniscalco and Joseph Theuma. Maniscalco was a member of the previous board, which also included businesswoman Diane Izzo. Tonio Montesin has been retained as the board’s secretary. The board has been appointed for a term of one year, effective from 27 February.

WasteServ Malta is currently in the news over plans to expropriate agricultural land for an expansion of its Magħtab plant. The environment ministry has said that the farmers will be compensated according to law but some 25 farmers have gone to court in a bid to stop the expropriation.

The Opposition has said that the expansion proves that the government’s waste policies have failed.

Minister Farrugia recently told this newsroom that WasteServ needed more space for additional plants and for the extension of the engineered landfill to enable Malta to reach its recycling targets.

“These are plants for the separation of recyclable waste, the processing of organic waste and the recovery of energy from residual waste. The plants will include the Waste to Energy Facility, the Hazardous Waste Thermal Treatment Facility, the Skip Loading Facility, the Composting Facility and an Organic Processing Plant”, he had said.

“They require a significant amount of land and are being located close to each other for logistical efficiency and in line with the government’s electoral pledge to give the Sant’ Antnin facility back to the people,” he said.

Farrugia has brought sweeping changes to several of the entities within his portfolio. These include the removal of architect Elizabeth Ellul from the role of chairperson of the Planning Authority’s ODZ-UCA Planning Commission.