Government is insisting that as owner of the public land in Armier it has “every right to consult” with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) on the pending permits aimed at regularising the community of boathouse squatters there.
Last Sunday MaltaToday revealed that just 19 days before the election and five days after announcing he would take responsibility over MEPA to redress the country’s environmental deficit, Lawrence Gonzi had written to Armier’s squatters to inform them none of the structures built before 1992 would be removed; and that within six months of being elected the government will consult with MEPA on the “issue of relevant permits.”
But a spokesperson for the OPM told MaltaToday that MEPA was not bound by any agreement signed between the government and the boathouse owners to issue any permit.
Moreover, a MEPA spokesperson confirmed that no permits can be issued before the approval of a comprehensive plan for Marfa, whose approval has been pending since 2002.
The Office of the Prime Minister said consultation between government and MEPA “is not and cannot be considered as political intervention in the planning process.”
Gonzi’s pre-electoral commitment was in reply to a petition signed by 8,202 individuals urging him to issue an amnesty for the Armier boathouse owners “as promised by the Leader of the Opposition”.
Asked why the Prime Minister had not issued a public statement on his commitments, the OPM strongly denied it tried to keep the agreement secret: “Contrary to what MaltaToday declared in the article of last Sunday, the government’s commitment was never a secret. In fact, government informed the 8,202 persons that sent a petition to government, of its commitment by a letter. It’s very difficult to consider this as a secret.”
However in their newsletter, the Armier squatters themselves urged their members to keep mum. “We advise everyone that following these positive developments, we decided not to organise any public activities and press conferences. We have also cancelled our general meeting… we did all this to avoid any controversy before the elections.”
They also publicly thanked former minister Louis Galea for “being instrumental in reaching the agreement with the government”, revealing that Gonzi’s letter followed intense negotiations with the former minister.
In his reply to the petition, Gonzi reiterated government’s commitment to hand over public land to the Armier squatters in an agreement promising the transfer of public land without the issue of a public tender, signed eight days before the 2003 election.
Din l-Art Helwa, Malta’s heritage trust, said it was not aware of the existence of this agreement. Neither did the Department of Information issue any press statement on such a controversial agreement to dispose of public land.
But the OPM now claims the April 2003 agreement “has been in the public domain since then and was mentioned in the media.”
It turns out however that the only media which published this agreement was the boathouse owners’ newsletter.
The OPM describes the agreement as “a commitment on behalf of government on how it intends to proceed on a sensitive issue.” Following this agreement, four years ago the Armier squatters applied for the construction of 1,589 two-storey beach rooms and a number of community centres and playing fields to replace the existing structures.

Agreement not binding on MEPA
The government’s commitment to hand over public land to the squatters’ company Armier Developments is not binding on MEPA because it is subject to the issuing of the relative permits by MEPA, that is bound to follow planning policy.
The government spokesperson said that in any matter related to land use and relative permits the government will always follow and observe the process established by the relevant laws.
While the illegal boathouses now cover a total land area of around 67,000 square metres, equivalent to eight full-size football fields, the Marfa Action Plan would see the area increase dramatically to around 231,000 square metres, or 28 full size football fields.
MEPA however cannot approve any permit for the Armier squatters until the Marfa plan is finalised and approved, leaving all permits pending. The draft plan was issued in 2002 following a recommendation by the government as owner of the Armier area. Since then, MEPA is still addressing a number of related land-use issues. The plan will then have to be approved by the MEPA board and endorsed by the environment minister, in this case Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Green NGOs oppose deal
Environmental NGOs contacted by MaltaToday expressed their complete opposition to plans to regularise the Armier squatters.
Ramblers Association president Lino Bugeja expressed his complete dismay towards the government’s pre-electoral deal. “We are completely demoralised. With friends like these who needs enemies? ... We definitely do not approve of this political bargaining before the election. Nobody can dispose of public land and sacrifice it on the altar of political expedience.”
Strongly objecting to the legalisation of pre-1992 illegalities, Bugeja pointed out that “MEPA was set up to eradicate past mistakes and to perpetrate them. These illegalities should be removed. Otherwise MEPA would be acting like the enemy within. As NGOs we not only having to contend with developers but we have to face the enemy within, people who are entrusted to defend the environment but who act otherwise.”
He also warned that the regularisation of pre-1992 Armier boathouses would create a precedent for other illegal boathouses in Marsascala and other localities.
Din l-Art Helwa and Friends of the Earth Malta are also calling for the removal of the pre 1992 illegal structures in Armier.
Din l-Art Helwa insists all ODZ structures built without a permit should be removed and that the present illegal boathouse town should not be replaced with a new complex of boathouses.
Spokesperson Pietra Bianchi said Armier Developments’ planning application went against the Structure Plan and therefore was unacceptable. “We strongly disagree with any plans to redevelop existing ODZ buildings constructed without a permit, let alone to increase the illegal footprint to an even larger site… a similar idea of ‘redeveloping’ an illegally developed area was proposed in the Ulysses Lodge application, which we had strongly opposed. The redevelopment of illegal ODZ structures would set a dangerous precedent.”

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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MaltaToday News
23 April 2008