Now that Gonzi has officially taken MEPA under his wing, he knows that he has a very hard nut to crack. But it is not an impossible one. The case of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando provides him with a good case study of how MEPA works and it is his responsibility now to ensure that everybody within MEPA abides by the law.
I do not take it against Jeffrey or the applicant for being able to get the permit: I take it against MEPA and the Chairman for not taking action to ensure that transparency prevails over there. Just in case you are not aware, there is a government gazette order which says that all applications which may have an environmental impact assessment are to be referred to the board of MEPA and not to the DCC.  But within MEPA, it seems not everybody knows of this order – they turn a blind eye at it and use this order only at their convenience.
So much so that we have certain applications that require an environment impact assessment that are referred to the MEPA board, and others which require the same environmental reports are excused and referred to a DCC board. At the moment there is nobody at MEPA responsible for determining at an early stage which applications require an EIA and which do not, so we cannot figure out as to who decides at MEPA which application requires an EIA and which don’t.
Thanks to Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s case, Gonzi must now make sure that a proper office is set up within MEPA to be responsible for the allocation of applications so that any applications falling within ODZ or Natura 2000 sites must automatically be deemed to require an EIA and therefore, only the MEPA board can deal with such applications, as is the government order I mentioned earlier states.
Can you tell me how we have had cases where an application for the construction of a hotel is referred by MEPA to the board, and another application also for the construction of another hotel is referred by MEPA to the DCC?  It is strange, but that is what we have been witnessing at MEPA and history has shown that it cannot be trusted with discretion.
The public is not angry at what took place at Mistra: they are angry for the way they are being treated differently by MEPA. The news that the MTA consultant is the same as that hired by the applicant in the Mistra case is no news at all as this has been going on for years. Whoever wants a favourable recommendation from MTA or from any other body, for all that matters, will be foolish not to try and approach the officials responsible and hire them privately.
Of course, ethically this does not make sense because since MEPA never dared to investigate any conflict of interest in any application, if in Malta everybody knows one another and if the system worked out well for some… why shouldn’t I do the same?
There are many lessons to be learnt from the Mistra case:  first, MEPA is to have an office which filters all applications with clear instructions to refer any applications which are ODZ to the MEPA board and not to the DCC, so as to decide whether such applications require an environmental impact assessment or not; secondly, there must be a code of ethics established for the members of all the MEPA boards and any appointments are to be subject to this code of ethics; thirdly, in the case of applications subject to the approval of other government entities, any conflict of interest must be declared subject to heavy fines.
We cannot have a replica of the exodus of architects who served on MEPA boards and who became rich thanks to such appointments. We all know what happens when you are on a board within MEPA: clients tend to flock to architects who sit on these boards thinking that they get a better chance of having their application approved, and 99% of the time they are right.
It is therefore very important for the government to sort this out as we cannot continue to witness the situation where the architect of an application before the DCC has the application judged by the same DCC board of which he is a member. The tragic farce is that the same architect is present as a board member, and when his client’s application is called, he just changes his hat from that of a board member of the DCC to that of an architect representing his client.
Gonzi is not stupid and he was wise enough not to let us have another replica of Sant & Mugliett. He must now ensure these conflicts of interest within the DCC boards stop, and fast. Otherwise, as I mentioned on another occasion, he has to change the board members more often in order to ensure that none of them thinks there is security of tenure for the post.
It is not enough to resign: we witnessed this many times within MEPA as was the case of Bugibba where there was somebody who said he made a mistake when he recommended for a block of apartments of over ten storeys for approval, and then he resigned. Others resigned for making mistakes but no action is taken against them. So far, it therefore pays to make mistakes within MEPA because you can get away scot-free if not richer.
Until some time ago, we tended to think the biggest monster in this country was the law courts, but no longer. Now the bigger monster is MEPA because the discretion awarded has translated itself into abuse. As you may recall, MEPA was set up so that there will not be a replica of Lorry Sant, but history is telling us that MEPA has become worse than Lorry, and Gonzi was left with no choice but to take MEPA under his wings.  
Although MEPA is a planning and environment authority: and there is too much planning (or unplanning) and no environment. The environment section is still rudimentary and it has been without a director for ages. We can never therefore speak about our love for the environment and then leave the environment section within MEPA naked and with no leader and with no resources. Can we blame the DCC for taking planning considerations above environmental ones when MEPA still focuses on planning more than on the environment?
It is not going to be easy for Gonzi to get MEPA on the right track: but the secret is to eliminate as much of the discretion and of the conflict of interests in there. And gross mistakes cannot continue to go unpunished.