<a href='https://ads.independent.com.mt/www/delivery/ck.php?n=afef72b0&cb=99' target='_blank'><img data-src='https://ads.independent.com.mt/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=22&cb=99&n=afef72b0' border='0' alt='' /></a>The Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) has said that the developers behind the controversial hotel planned on Comino will have an obligation to plant 540 new indigenous trees on the island. The authority issued a statement after uproar as it approved a permit for environmental works to begin on the project – the permit of which is currently under court appeal. The ERA said that this obligation emerges from the fact that 10 trees must be planted each of the 54 protected trees that will be removed under the proposed development permit for Comino. “These trees form part of a group of 678 trees and shrubs, mostly oleanders and ornamental palms, that will be removed. “In addition, another 348 trees, all but seven of which are protected, will be transplanted within the same site,” the authority added.