Letters | Sunday, 12 July 2009

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The problem at MEPA

Much has been said and written about the controversial development of a farmhouse or villa in Bahrija, owned by PN President Dr Victor Scerri and his wife, yet so many things are still unclear.
Am I correct in stating that there are stringent regulations governing ODZ applications which allow only an extension of around a third of an already existing building? So if Dr and Mrs Scerri acquired a three-roomed dwelling, and according to present regulations should have been allowed such an extension, why is there a gaping hole which looks similar in size to some of the huge controversial developments taking place in Sliema?
And if Dr Scerri with the help of the knowledgeable and gifted architect, Mr Musumeci, was granted a permit to build such an extension consisting of one or two rooms (which would not have marred the environment or in any way stopped anyone from enjoying the countryside) in 2000, why did it take him nine years to go ahead and build? What was happening in those nine years? Or is it that what should be allowed by law, although this does not seem to apply to everyone equally, is not good enough for the likes of Dr Scerri and some other part-time farmers?
Were we not told that MEPA was being set up to do away with rampant corruption going on in the 70s and 80s? At least in those days one could point fingers. What has changed with MEPA, which, like Dejma, Dirghajn il-Maltin, Izra u Rabbi and others, has served to considerably reduce unemployment at the taxpayers’ expense, is that one can no longer point fingers.
MEPA is like a smokescreen. Being independent of political interference is one thing. But when it is painfully obvious to the man in the street that certain permits should never have been granted and when people are discriminated against such as when a permit is issued for six floors and next door the permit is limited to four or denied outright. For no valid reason whatsoever, I consider it the duty of the people we voted for in the name of justice and equality to investigate matters.
What was considered to be corruption and unacceptable under a Labour government, should also be considered as such under a Nationalist government and the Prime Minister has the duty to intervene. To be fair to the Prime Minister, Dr Gonzi inherited the monster that is MEPA.
Does it not worry the Prime Minister at all that wherever one looks, be it MEPA, the ADT, the VAT department and so many other organisations, things are not as they should be, to put it mildly?
Whenever people complain to ministers and other Nationalist Party officials about the rampant irregularities and corruption that has infiltrated everywhere, they just dismiss it as unimportant and remind them that at least nowadays there is no violence. They then go on and urge the electorate to vote for the lesser of the two evils. And just in case Dr Gonzi is wondering why the Nationalist Party got such a trouncing at the polls, he need wonder no more. The people obeyed and did just that.

Joan De Maria
Sliema

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