James Debono “Completely irregular,” declares the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s ombudsman on the permit issued to developer Charles Polidano for the construction of a Lidl supermarket in Luqa.
According to Joe Falzon’s report, the permit for the supermarket was approved by MEPA despite the objections filed by the Civil Aviation Department and the Malta International Airport, because the supermarket was located within 250m of runway 24, and its height was 2.5m higher than the runway approach protection surface.
The permit was even approved despite a previous refusal for a car-hire firm to build a garage, because the site is within the public safety zone on the approach to runway 24.
Joe Falzon said he had concluded his report, which highlights discrepancies between the way MEPA treated applications presented by the previous owner of the site; and the way it treated an application by construction magnate Charles Polidano on the same plot of land.
“While in the case of the previous applicant the objections presented by the Civil Aviation Department led to its rejection, the same objections were dismissed simply because other developments exist in the area,” Falzon told MaltaToday.
He also noted that while previously the Director of Agriculture had objected to the development, this objection was dropped when Polidano applied for a car park on the same portion of land.
Safety rules ignored Falzon started his investigation after the original owner of the land complained that his request to develop the same land had been turned down on three occasions by MEPA.
Subsequently he sold his land to Charles Polidano, who found no difficulty in obtaining the development permit requested.
“After I presented the report to the MEPA chairman I was told that MEPA will be conducting its own internal investigation on this permit but I have not heard anything about this case since than,” Falzon told MaltaToday.
Falzon announced that he was investigating this permit in his annual report published back in April.
A permit for a similar supermarket in Safi was also deemed irregular by the auditor in a report published on the eve of the 2008 general election, which then prompted the mass resignation of MEPA’s development control commission, which issued the permit.
Although Falzon has now concluded his report, he is still waiting for MEPA to conduct its own internal investigation on how the permit was issued.
Shoppers warned Despite the approval of the supermarket, people parking their cars at the Lidl supermarket’s car park in Luqa are met by a health risk sign, warning them that their health and safety is “highly at risk in the event of an accident involving low flying planes” which regularly pass over the supermarket because of the nearby airport.
The warning cites Lidl’s obligation, as per a 2004 legal notice, to warn shoppers that the site of the supermarket is “in the direct path of low flying aircraft” and therefore exposed to health and safety risks, “particularly in the event of an aircraft accident”.
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