The Dwejra Heritage Park’s action plan not only paved a pre-electoral bonanza for the sanctioning of dozens of illegal boathouses at the Dwejra inlet, but also led to the construction of a restaurant on Dwejra ridge whose construction was abruptly halted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) on Tuesday.
A MaltaToday probe reveals that an application for a restaurant by the same person was rejected by MEPA on three separate occasions between 1998 and 2000 – only to be approved on the same place when it was later incorporated into an interpretation centre, approved by MEPA in March 2007, for the Dwejra heritage park.
The restaurant’s applicant was in fact the only person to respond to an expression of interest to develop the interpretation centre, after an original site – the Qawra Tower – was dismissed because it was not accessible to the disabled.
The interpretation centre is part of the the Dwejra action plan, approved by MEPA in 2005 with the blessing of conservationist NGO Nature Trust and the San Lawrence local council.
Now MEPA has halted the works on the monstrous structure on the Dwejra ridge, pending further investigations on possible deviations from the approved plans.

The restaurant saga
The applicant, Joseph Cassar, first applied for the construction of a restaurant in 1998 – the application was immediately refused.
A reconsideration was also turned down, on the grounds that the development would affect the garigue, which contains species and geological features that should be protected. A case officer argued the development breached the Structure Plan’s “blanket prohibition of any form of urbanisation outside areas.”
And then in February 2000, the application was again refused by MEPA’s appeals board on the grounds that the undeveloped coastline had to be protected. The case officer argued that the development would impact the area visually, affecting the area’s natural beauty.

Through the back door
But in October 2006, Joe Cassar applied this time for the construction of an interpretation centre and a restaurant – citing the newly approved Qawra-Dwejra Heritage Park as a justification.
Cassar had in fact been chosen by the heritage park’s management as the developer of its new interpretation centre. According to the San Lawrence mayor Noel Formosa, Cassar was the only person to answer an expression of interest that MEPA had asked the council to publish. The call was aimed at anyone owning land in the area who was willing to host the new interpretation centre.
MEPA denied any responsibility over the choice of land for the new project, claiming the San Lawrenz council was responsible.
According to the mayor, Cassar was allowed to use part of the new interpretation centre as a restaurant as “compensation” for allowing the management committee of the park to use the new building as premises for the interpretation centre of the new park for free.
In fact the action plan envisions the inclusion of a catering establishment in the new interpretation centre. “We were simply abiding to the terms of the management plan of the new park written by MEPA,” Formosa said.
But although the Gozo Local Plan had already identified the Qawra Tower as the location for the heritage park’s interpretation centre, Nature Trust is claiming it was MEPA that dismissed this option because the tower was not deemed accessible to people with special needs.
And although the case officer’s report for the new interpretation centre acknowledged the centre would be within a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area, a Bird Sanctuary and a Nature Reserve, the new centre and restaurants were still given a favourable recommendation.

Nature Trust in controversy
Nature Trust has insisted it is not responsible for the supervision of works on the interpretation centre in the heritage park.
“MEPA are the supervisors of the works as they are the regulatory authority. However Nature Trust have been urging MEPA to monitor the development as it was not working according to the original plan and it was at Nature Trust’s insistence that the development has been stopped,” a Nature Trust spokesperson told MaltaToday.
According to Nature Trust at present Dwejra has no site managers because Nature Trust’s term as project coordinators of the Dwejra project expired on March 2007. “In fact to date no site management agreement has been issued by the authorities. It was therefore up to MEPA and the local council to monitor the progress in post-projects issues.”
According to Nature Trust, the Dwejra Life Project included the creation of a visitors’ centre which is considered to be “important for the management of the large influx of visitors which visit the area.”
Originally the Qawra Tower in Dwejra was earmarked as the visitors’ centre, avoiding the need to construct any other buildings within the site. “However MEPA dismissed the use of the tower on the fact that is was not accessible to people with special needs and disability and it was not possible to make any alterations to render the tower accessible.”
This is when the management board instructed the San Lawrenz council to issue a call for interested parties to provide the new premises. Since this deviation from plans was not part of the Dwejra Life Project proposal, no funds were allocated for the new premises.
Nature Trust claims the only interested party offered to build a premises with the condition that the visitors’ centre was placed downstairs whilst the upper area would be managed by the owner of the site. “The building had to be made in such a way as to be removed whenever required. All the costs and plans had to be borne by the interested party and according to the plans as approved by MEPA,” the Nature Trust spokesperson said.

Ramblers’ rage
In a strongly worded statement the Ramblers Association has broken ranks with Nature Trust and other NGOs who back in February declared that the benefits of the Dwejra outweighed the disadvantage of sanctioning the boathouses.
“The insult of the offending concrete cafeteria being constructed on the ridge adds to the injury that this heritage site has been made to suffer by the permission of illegal structures, under guise of boathouses.”
The Ramblers Association has now reversed its stand on the sanctioning of the unsightly hovels at Dwejra and calls for them to be demolished. “Obviously the embryonic concrete monstrosity on the ridge, conceived from these open abuses and in variance with the park plans, must also be aborted right away and the offending concrete removed from site,” the association said.
MEPA also issued a statement denying the Ramblers Association’s claim that fines collected from the sanctioning of boathouses in Dwejra are being used for the construction of a cafeteria.
Alternattiva Demokratika secretary-general Victor Galea said that concrete structures in a national park contrast completely with the Prime Minister’s promise that Gozo would become an ecological island. “In this way we are simply killing the goose which lays the golden eggs,” Galea said.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt