Just two days after the Prime Minister announced his plans for reforming Malta’s planning system, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was busy sanctioning illegal boathouses next to the picturesque Inland Sea.
On Thursday the Malta Environment and Planning Authority sanctioned 13 boathouses sited on private land located in the Qawra/Dwejra National Park which is managed by Nature Trust.
13 boathouses had already been sanctioned in November and only last week the MEPA board agreed to reduce the fines imposed on their owners.
Surprisingly Nature Trust President and newly appointed MEPA board member Vince Attard also voted for the sanctioning of the boathouses.
Back in 2000 both Din l-Art Helwa and Nature Trust objected to the sanctioning “irrespective of whether they were built prior to 1992 or not.”
The environmental NGOs argued that “the sanctioning of these structures will constitute a precedent which will bring the legalisation of all other boathouses built prior to 1992.”
But contacted by MaltaToday Vince Attard defended the decision to sanction the boathouses Attard arguing that studies showed that the demolition of these boathouses would have a more negative environmental impact on the sensitive habitat than retaining them.
“The disturbance created by having trucks entering the area to demolish the boathouses would have created a greater damage,” Attard told MaltaToday,
He also pointed out that any demolition would have endangered an endemic plant growing on the rubble next to the boathouses and that the disturbance would have endangered the pebble beach.
Asked whether this would create a precedent to legalise other boathouses, Attard insisted that Nature Trust is still against the Armier boathouses which are sited on public land and pose a threat to the sand dunes in the area.
The sanctioned boathouses are among the 47 boathouses constructed illegally after 1968. The first cluster was build in the 1970s and 1980s but some were build in the early 1990s.
Originally the case officer had recommended the refusal of these permits.
The Environment Protection Directorate had pointed out the structures are located “in an ecologically and scientifically important area” which hosts “rare and fragile habitats.” The EPD declared that it “fully supports the removal of these illegal structures.”
“The area has great scenic and aesthetic value and is one of the most important attractions for tourists and locals.”
The report also points that the “fresh water pool is a very rare habitat in the island,”
The case officer report states in clear terms that the “inland sea has suffered from the illegal construction of buildings.”
Yet but this recommendation was changed after the publication of the local plan which endorsed the Qawra/Dwejra Heritage Action Plan recommendation to sanction the boathouses.
During Thursday’s meeting the Board specified that walls surrounding the boathouses should not be higher than 1.2m, that no new land is enclosed.
MEPA also refused a permit to construct a new boathouse in the same area.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt