No logical explanation could be found behind the bizarre regional boundaries created in the 2019 local councils reform which left Imtarfa and San Ġwann completely isolated from their region. This anomaly is fully exposed in the local councils’ regional map, whereby these two localities resemble two northern region ‘islands’ sprouting out of nowhere in the rest the island.

Consequently, this has given rise to what could be described as ‘enclaves’ of the northern region, just like for example the Vatican in Italy or Kaliningrad, which is Russian territory landlocked between Poland and Lithuania.

An investigation by the Voice of the Workers Weekly revealed that as part of the 2019 reform in which the total number of regions was increased from five to six, Rabat was shifted from north to west. For some reason however, Imtarfa which is landlocked by Rabat, was left in the northern region, leaving it completely ‘isolated’.

In the case of San Ġwann, the decision is also odd.  The reform meant that Għargħur, Swieqi and Pembroke which were previously in the North were transferred to the eastern region. While this made perfect sense, San Gwann which is further to the south was relocated to the northern region, which from a geographical perspective is illogical.

Contacted for his reaction, Local Councils Association President Mario Fava would not enter into the specific merits of the situation regarding Imtarfa and San Ġwann.

He pointed out that the changes had been piloted by Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Parnis in consultation with councils, regions and a committee tasked to oversee the reform.

The changes were primarily aimed to increase the regions from five to six, to bring more uniformity in the domestic waste collection schedules, and to have an equal number of households in each region.

However, he conceded that certain changes left much to be desired, such as Marsa which should have been designated within the harbour region. Bar some exceptions, localities within the same region border each other, he insisted.

When it was pointed out to him that the geographical distribution of Imtarfa and San Gwann within the northern region made no logical sense, the Association President noted that prior to this reform there was a rather similar case with Pembroke, Swieqi and Imtarfa which were within the northern region.

Such comparison, however, is rather flawed as back then no council was landlocked within a different region.