Two other permits in breach of EU’s Habitats Directive
In the past four years MEPA Auditor Joe Falzon has rapped MEPA on four occasions for breaching the European Union’s Habitats Directive, which protects sensitive ecological areas from being developed.
Apart from the two cases involving high-ranking politicians, namely the Nationalist Party’s former president Victor Scerri and Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando which were later revoked by MEPA, Falzon also reprimanded permits issued in Dingli and Zurrieq. None of these permits were ever revoked.
Contacted by MaltaToday, Falzon confirmed that the other two cases involved the upgrading of the walkaway in Wied Babu in Zurrieq by the Works Department; and the transformation of former military barracks close to the picturesque Dingli cliffs into private villas.
The investigation on the Dingli permit was triggered by a MaltaToday probe in 2005 on the two MEPA permits issued in Dingli. The permit was granted despite the case officer’s recommendations to refuse a number of permits in the area.
The unused military barracks located at Ta’ Ghar Bittija in Triq it-Turretta, outside the approved planning scheme for Dingli, was located in an ecological buffer zone to protect the coastal cliffs: the area was protected by the EU’s Habitats Directive.
In his annual report in 2007, Falzon censored the Works Department for failing to follow an approved permit for the upgrading of the walkway at Wied Babu. “The permit should not have been issued in the first place in its present format as it is in breach of the EU’s Habitats Directive.”
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