James Debono
A report by MEPA’s internal auditor Joe Falzon has done little to take the heat off the planning authority over permits it issued before last March’s election.
They include a permit issued on the eve of the election for a villa to be developed on the pig farm belonging to Safi mayor Peter Pawl Busuttil; the supermarket in Luqa constructed by Charles Polidano on outside development land where a previous developer claimed his request for a permit had been turned down three times; and the furnishing of illegal buildings with water and electricity.
Falzon reprimanded MEPA for using a newly-approved agricultural policy as the pretext to justify an outline permit for Nationalist mayor Peter Paul Busuttil to construct his bungalow and swimming pool outside development zones, on his former pig farm.
Falzon started investigating the case following reports on Kulhadd and MaltaToday.
The permit was issued a few weeks before the general elections on the strength of a policy that allows farm buildings to be converted into dwellings.
Falzon said the conversion can only be granted if the Director of Veterinary Services declares the building cannot be used for agriculture. But “the ease with which the applicant of the case under consideration obtained the required certificate, clearly indicates what is likely to happen.”
In his investigation on the Safi mayor’s permit, Falzon reprimanded the DCC board for not seeking the advice of the Planning Directorate when it decided to apply the policy on the conversion of disused farm building. Falzon is calling on MEPA to change its policy.
Following his damning report of MEPA’s approval of an application by Polidano Bros. to build a supermarket in Safi, Falzon also reveals that he is investigating another supermarket by the developer in Luqa.
Falzon started his investigation after the original owner of the land complained that his requests to develop the same land was turned down on three occasions by MEPA. Subsequently he sold his land to the present developer who had no difficulty to obtain the development permit requested.
MEPA Auditor Joe Falzon also reiterated his view that the appointment of Roderick Galdes as the Opposition’s representative on the MEPA board went against the provisions of the Development Planning Act.
The article forbids public officers from serving on the MEPA board. Falzon claims Galdes’s dual role as MEPA employee and MEPA board member “results in a conflict between his duties as a MEPA employee and his duties as a Board member”.
He also claims Galdes’s contribution as a MEPA board member will be very limited as he will have to decline to participate in the deliberations of the board since he would have a direct personal interest in the decisions taken.
Galdes had previously rebutted that the ban on public service employment only applies to the independent members on the board and not to the two MPs who also serve on the board. “In no way can one refer to my position in the board as an independent one, considering the fact that I was nominated by the Leader of the Opposition as an MP,” Galdes said in his letter to the auditor.
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