Enemalta currently supplies 110 illegal boathoases in Armier with electricity, justifying the provision on the grounds that the structures pre-date the 1992 deadline enshrined in the Development Planning Act.
A law enacted in 1992 precludes the Enemalta supplying electricity to any “new development” lacking a valid MEPA compliance certificate. But although none of the Armier boathouses possesses a compliance certificate, all were already supplied electricity by Enemalta before 1992.
A spokesperson for the corporation insisted that Enemalta is fully complying by the law: “We are obliged under the Development Planning Act of 1992 not to supply a permanent electricity supply to any property that is unable to provide a valid MEPA compliance certificate. We fully comply with the law.”
But the law only precludes the supply of electricity to any “new developments” lacking a permit. Since the Armier boathouses cannot be considered as “new developments”, the law perpetuates the legal limbo in which the Armier squatters live.
MaltaToday is informed that Enemalta has been providing electricity at a commercial rate since the 1980s. Yet over the past years, Enemalta has turned down demands from the boathouse owners to repair the electricity system at Armier. Boathouse owners complain that the state of electricity in Armier poses a health risk the inhabitants of the shantytown.
The illegal boathouse owners were further placated by the Prime Minister himself, when 19 days before the election he promised them not to remove any pre-1992 development in Armier – a week before he announced he would take MEPA in his hands.