MEPA’s problems stem from the ‘ejja nirrangaw’ (‘let’s sort it out’) culture which has plagued the planning authority in the past years – as long as this attitude prevails, MEPA audit officer Joe Falzon thinks the institution is beyond reform and that his work is futile.
Joe Falzon is far from a bitter or angry man, as he laughs when commenting on MEPA’s follies: such as decisions where a dwelling is disguised as a two-storey reservoir adorned with windows (“perhaps installed to allow the developer to see the goldfish inside,” Falzon comments) to a permit for a three metre-wide countryside passage, granted on condition that this is painted green.
But five years as MEPA auditor have taken their toll on Falzon’s belief in the planning authority’s ability to reform itself. He notes that Malta has practically copied the planning laws of the United Kingdom. However, one fundamental difference remains.
“We seem to be unprepared for having these kind of institutions. We seem to prefer to have institutions where things can be sorted out. We have made a good law. But when it came to enforcing it, we started moving the goalposts.”
Falzon’s major contention starts when decisions contradict clear and taxing policies. “What is happening is that policies are being adjusted little by little on an ad hoc basis.”
He refers to his investigation on how the Santa Maria Estate bungalow area was allowed to degenerate. “What happens is that someone starts complaining that since he has more than one car and a boat, he needs a bigger basement and his request is granted despite existing policies. This becomes a sort of acquired right.”
Falzon has publicly announced over a resignation. I point out that people normally resign outright, and do not deliberate in public on their decision-making process. “I am simply waiting to see how things will develop.”
But is Falzon simply sending a message by threatening to resign? “It’s not the case. I am not interested in seeking attention of newspapers or TV stations. I heard they are even collecting signatures,” says Falzon with an incredulous look, referring to an online petition supporting him.
What has really irked Falzon was that “all hell broke loose” after he declared that he still deemed meetings between DCC members and developers illegal despite a court sentence which absolved the two DCC members of any criminal responsibility in the Mistra case.
Falzon recalls that it was the Prime Minister who asked him to prepare a report on this case a few days before the election. “It was a very critical moment and I had to be careful about the timing of the report, fully knowing the political implications of issuing the report before or after the election. I gave the draft to the chairman before the election… I was sure that it was on the minister’s table five minutes later. Having done my duty, I waited for the chairman’s feedback, which came after the election. The report was finalised after the election because that was when I received the chairman’s feedback.”
But he insists that it was not his report which prompted the police to investigate.
“I had just started seeing the file when I left the office at 5pm. As soon as I returned home, the MEPA chairman phoned to inform me that the police wanted to see the file and that they were coming for me. I protested that I did not have the key and that he had to send someone to open the front door. The inspectors came home and took me to the office. I spent two hours explaining the file to the police.”
Subsequently, the police pressed charges against two DCC members who were later cleared of charges of exercising a private interest in the process of adjudicating the application for an open-air disco in Mistra.
“Then all hell broke loose simply because I passed a comment on the legality of meetings of DCC members with private developers.”
Falzon denies the Prime Minister’s assertion that he was in any way contradicting the court’s decision. According to Falzon, the court was not considering the planning process and the way it was carried out. The court simply made a statement of fact: “It had become common practice for the applicants to have meetings with DCC board members in private. I simply reiterated my opinion that between developers and decision makers they are illegal because planning law says DCC meetings have to be held in public. The court simply confirmed that this has become common practice.”
The court’s decision does not in any way dispute Falzon’s contention that the permit was issued abusively. “This is an established fact, to the extent that MEPA revoked the permit.”
Back in 1994, Falzon was chairman of the DCC board which approved a restaurant next to the land belonging to Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, despite a negative recommendation by the case officer. Is this not a case of double standards on his part?
Falzon insists that this was an entirely different case, as it involved a building which was already legally constructed by the sea and not further inland. The planning decision to be taken was whether to allow the owner to change it in to a restaurant. “I remember asking the case officer who recommended the refusal what kind of use was acceptable for the building. The case officer proposed that it should be changed into an interpretive centre where school children could take biology lessons. I asked him how could I possibly imagine a private owner to conduct biology lessons for schoolchildren on his own property.”
Falzon acknowledges since that back in 1994 policies were still fluid. “Naturally, if we considered this case today, we would judge according to updated and stricter policies. Probably there would have been greater control on light pollution. But the environmental impact of this case has been minimal.”
The auditor has also been taken to task for representing the MUSEUM society as architect for a two-storey ODZ development in Cirkewwa in 2002 when he had no official role in MEPA. The building had been granted to the society through a parliamentary resolution, and a contract specified the need to rehabilitate or rebuild the building. Since parts of the building were in danger of collapse there was no choice but to rebuild it.
“The society wanted two floors. I told them that this will be very hard to get such a permit. I then asked for a formal post submission consultation meeting with the Directorate. Director of planning Godwin Cassar told me that it would be impossible to approve two floors. I did not even argue against him as I personally felt that was right.”
Subsequently, he told the MUSEUM to forget about having the two floors and to settle for one floor. When replying to the DPA report calling for a rejection he made reference to the meeting in which the Directorate accepted a one-storey development as a back-up in case of refusal.
“I did not even attend the DCC meeting where the decision was taken as I assumed that only one storey would be approved. Astonishingly, they gave them a permit for two floors. I don’t know how this happened.”
Falzon distinguishes between meetings involving negotiations between developers and MEPA decision makers and those between the Planning Directorate and the developers aimed at discussing applications in respect of policies. “Pre and post-submission meetings with applicants and objectors are not only legal but encouraged by the law. What I would like to see is that minutes are kept to avoid misunderstandings and claims by developers that they were promised something.”
But this is very different from meetings involving board members and the developers.
“Would anyone find it acceptable for a magistrate to ask the accused to come in to his room behind closed doors for a private chat?”
Falzon has completed more than 300 reports. In how many cases did MEPA endorse Falzon’s reports? “They always agree with me when I say that a complaint is not sustained. This is the case in about half the cases which are either frivolous or irrelevant.”
Falzon understands that some policies are open to interpretation.
“Even when I disagree with a decision, I will not question it as long as the reports were done properly and the decision is based on policy.”
There are also a number of cases in which MEPA expressed its agreement with his recommendations. “They tell me that they will be doing something about it even if I do not know what they do exactly.”
But apart from the revocation of the Mistra and Bahrija developments in which politicians were involved, MEPA has not revoked any other permit investigated by Falzon. He refers to a report very similar to the one on Mistra and Bahrija, regarding development taking place in Dingli on a site of scientific importance. “The report clearly stated that the permit is illegal. Going by the same yardstick the permit should have been revoked. But the development is still taking place. We even had developments conducted by the government like the road in Wied Babu in Zurrieq, another site of scientific importance. They were not even allowed to make street lighting as this caused light pollution on the protected valley.”
For Falzon, maximum transparency is important in an institution “where decisions effecting vast sums of money are taken… I think it is not enough to allow the public access to plans as happens today. We should make the entire file available. Since 2007, all papers are scanned and therefore can be available to everyone.”
So is there corruption in MEPA?
“I never said that… only the former Archbishop once said that.”
What Falzon said in relation to the Mistra case is that such cases lead to the suspicion of corruption and that MEPA’s reputation will suffer. “Just talk to the people outside. They think that all there is to MEPA is corruption .”
Falzon believes that many cases of wrongdoing are based on incompetence rather than corruption. “I sincerely believe that the majority of people who work here are not corrupt and are only interested in making a living. But one cannot exclude that there could be cases of corruption. After all, laws are not made for good people but for bad ones.”
An entire DCC board resigned following Falzon’s report on the approval of a Lidl supermarket in Safi. The same board was also involved in the approval of the Mistra and Bahrija permits. It also approved the Luqa supermarket, which is also questioned by the auditor. Is this not sufficient reason to investigate their operations?
“I have signaled my concern on the operations of DCC Division A, not just once but three times. I don’t think that it should all stop here simply because its members resigned. But this falls outside my competence.”
But evidence on the wrongdoing of this board keeps piling up. Falzon cites the approval of a three-metre wide passage on agricultural land. “They justified this decision by obliging the developer to paint the concrete passage green. This permit was issued by Division A a few days before the election against the case officer recommendation and against all policies.”
Another cases involved a person who applied to demolish a villa set on 2.7 tumuli in a bungalow area. The policy states that the minimum area for bungalow is 1 tumuli. If the board followed the policy it would have issued him a permit for two villas. Instead the DCC issued a permit for three villas set on 0.7 tumuli each. “When I asked why the permit was issued, they replied that they had abided with the other conditions. As if I care about the other conditions when one specific condition was broken!”
Despite being asked to investigate politically sensitive cases like the one on Mistra by the Prime Minister himself, Falzon does not see any change in the attitude of MEPA towards him after the election and Austin Walker’s appointment as chairman.
“I first had the impression that there was an improvement. But little has changed. I still face resentment whenever I expose things. In most cases I do not even suspect that there was an irregularity. The main problem is that the system of checks and balances is not working.”
And his office is still deprived of a full-time investigator since Carmel Cacopardo’s term expired in 2007. Falzon, who works on a part-time basis, has the help of a full-time personal assistant and sometimes he is assisted by one the parliamentary ombudsman’s staff. Lack of resources has weakened his office.
“I have a backlog of cases. I am not in a position to investigate all the cases I read about in the newspapers or to which I was alerted.”
He even confesses that he had a tip-off from someone in MEPA that something was wrong on the Mistra Spin Valley disco case before the case was made public by the Labour Party. “You should look at the Mistra case’ this person told me. In fact, I intended to take a look at it when I had some time. Then all of a sudden I was superseded by events a few days before the election.”
But it’s not just politically sensitive cases which have disillusioned Falzon, but also MEPA’s failure to give redress to ordinary citizens. One such case involves a change of use of a retail shop to a bar in that part of Paceville designated as a residential area by the local plan. “The local plan makes it clear that it will not allow the spillage of entertainment establishments in the residential area. But despite this clear policy, the permit was still issued.”
To add insult to injury, the developer was requested to conduct an engineer’s report on noise levels. But instead of assessing the noise impacts of the music the report accessed the noise levels of fridges and other utensils. “I have not seen one single report commissioned and paid for by an applicant which is not biased in his favour.”
This case has now been taken over by the parliamentary ombudsman who is investigating the role of the police in this case. “This person now can’t even sleep in her bedroom, which lies immediately above the bar and had to take her bed in the kitchen. The fact that people are not given a redress despite reports showing that policies have been breached leaves me speechless. That is why I am starting to think that all my work here is futile.”
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