News • February 29 2004

Rival PN contenders indicate MEPA is in for review

Matthew Vella

The operation of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority came under criticism ahead of the PN leadership election by rival candidates John Dalli and Lawrence Gonzi, who gave strong indications that MEPA’s operations could be up for review.
Pandering to the party councillors responsible for their election to party leader and eventual Prime Minister, the two contenders echoed a general lament on the duration and rigidity of the planning process within MEPA.
Whilst Finance Minister John Dalli remarked that the authority’s planning process had turned into a series of exams “with a pass-mark of 100 per cent,” Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi went a step further when he promised he would set up a task force headed by senior ministers to review MEPA’s operations and reduce the rigidity with which MEPA enforced its regulations.
But MEPA’s director-general has defended the authority’s environmental credentials against the criticism, also partly incited by former tourism minister Michael Refalo’s chastisement of MEPA on the long drawn saga of the Verdala golf course project.
“MEPA’s remit is such that the authority will always be subject to criticism,” Godwin Cassar told MaltaToday. “This is only liable to increase. In some ways, it is a positive means of keeping us on our toes to remain flexible to change,” the director-general said, who shrugged off the criticism. “We have been through this already before.”
Environment Minister Geroge Pullicino takes the criticism as matter of fact: “It is very unlikely that MEPA will be ever praised by all. The same applies with regard to the Ornis committee, where hunters think regulations are too harsh and environmental organisations like Birdlife think regulations favour the hunters. When Ministers like myself meet their constituents, most of the times we are faced with personal grievances. This is a limited audience. However, one has to keep in mind that outside our offices there is a much larger audience, which is the silent majority.”
Godwin Cassar claimed the authority faced procrastination problems from other agencies involved in the planning process:
“What is not being said is that the authority also depends on the operation of other agencies which interface with MEPA on planning permits. Some of these agencies lack the necessary input needed when decisions are expected of them. Being in the public eye, MEPA often gets most of the criticism.
“The planning authority naturally has a certain impact. MEPA’s remit involves a bulk of the country’s activity when it comes to planning. But if everyone would like to go back to square one, it will all be back to the days of the PAPB when everything used to happen behind closed doors. Today the environmental considerations are of prime importance at the end of the day. It is always a balanced and consensual view that has to be taken, a matter of trade-offs and negotiations for the benefit of the environment whilst allowing for new development to take place.
George Pullicino agrees with Gonzi’s proposal for a task force that would aim to curb bureaucracy in departments, government agencies and all authorities: “MEPA will benefit from it too. In terms of the law, government departments and agencies are obliged to submit their comments on applications within four weeks. However timeframes are not always adhered to, with the resultant fallout on MEPA’s consultation process. I just hope government departments and other state entities will become as transparent in their operations as MEPA has been in the last years. Although there has been much improvement, still more remains to be done.”
Cassar also defended the authority on the long drawn out process to have a decision taken on Anglu Xuereb’s application to construct a golf course over the land at Tal-Virtù in Rabat.
“There is nothing to hide in this process. A very expensive EIA was conducted, and for that process and consultation with other agencies to be carried out, a certain period of time is needed. Sometimes it is expected that decisions should be taken overnight. Although we do take note of the statements and letters to the press, this ultimately is a decision up to the MEPA board and its members.
“I see the question of the time period as something which happens in other countries. In the UK, around 20 per cent of complaints to the ombudsman are related to the planning process.”

matthew@newsworksltd.com