News | Sunday, 01 February 2009

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173 ODZ permits awarded before elections

James Debono
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority issued 173 permits for developments lying outside the development boundaries (ODZ) in the first two months of 2008.
The amount is 29% of all the contentious ODZ permits issued between January and November of last year. ODZ areas are usually green areas or other areas in which development is not permissible.
In the subsequent nine months after the March election, MEPA issued 417 ODZ permits, an average of just 46 permits per month – unlike the 66 ODZ permits issued in January, and the record 107 issued in February.
The data emerges from the Prime Minister’s reply to a parliamentary question tabled by shadow environment minister Leo Brincat.
Although most ODZ permits issued by MEPA consist of works connected to agriculture, the latest statistics confirm that MEPA was more busy than usual in the days before the election.
In March, MaltaToday revealed that the number of cases considered by the DCC boards in the first week of March had shot up from 162 in the first week of March in 2007, to 430 in the week right before the election.
The DCC boards refused only 15 cases outright in the last week before the election.
Another 112 cases which had a negative recommendation by the case officer were deferred to a later date.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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