The fight is still on over the extension of development boundaries, Dr Harry Vassallo, chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika said at a press conference yesterday.

Dr Vassallo claimed the extension carried out by the government in July was in violation of EU directives, and has created uncertainty and anxiety for hundreds of families across the country.

"Minister George Pullicino has effectively told these families that they are politically expendable, that their investments in their homes are not a consideration which this government respects. For AD, the issue is not over parliament?s approval of the development zone extensions last July, in fact we have been working on the matter since then," Dr Vassallo said.

"In the past four months, the matter has been under investigation by the EU Commissioner responsible for the Environment Stavros Dimas and what the government has tried to do will not be sanctioned once it is established that it is in violation of EU law."

Dr Vassallo added that AD has also carried out its own study on the illegal extension of the development zones, and will be making a technical statement to Commissioner Dimas in support of his investigation.

"Our submissions to the Commission are being published on our website at www.alternattiva.org.mt and are being made available to the press," he said.

"It is also our duty to keep affected residents informed of what is going on and to this end we are organising a residents network which will contact everybody in every street facing an illegal extension of the development boundaries," Dr Vassallo said. "We invite everybody to participate actively in the little time that remains."