Letters | Sunday, 12 July 2009

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Before MEPA reform…

I am an avid reader of your paper since you publish everything that is newsworthy. Letters to the Times are on most occasions not published.
Anyway, this piece of information which will make people laugh or cry – this is a country of transparency and less red tape, or so the PM is always saying.
MEPA has a rule that all fields or land must have a boundary wall to serve a deterrent to people who still persist in throwing rubbish.
Well a friend of mine applied to MEPA to build a boundary wall (tas-sejjieh) within the limits as established by law, to eventually plant olive trees. The architect informed my friend that this was something petty and would be decided in a matter of days. Surprise – my friend gets a letter from MEPA stating that his application will be decided by 15 December, 2009, or six months to decide on an application by someone who wishes to comply with their own laws!
Another two stories: the first, an application made by a pig breeder in 1995 to the Lands Department who to this very date is still without a reply.
And wow the government of Malta requisitioned a piece of a garden in 1992 in Zebbug so that a street could be opened between Main Str and Triq Kurkanta. I assume that all the necessary works were seen too, before the President of Malta (at that time Censu Tabone) was requested to sign the order. Before the 1996 elections works were taken in hand and the contract was assigned to Polidano Bros. Labour won the elections and hey presto the works were stopped. It so happens that the garden belongs to a staunch Labour supporter.
No only, but in 2000 MEPA issued a building permit on the same site which pertains to the Republic of Malta – or should I say Banana Republic of Malta.

Denis Muscat

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