The Ramblers Association yesterday filed a judicial protest against the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, calling on it to stop works that are currently take place the Bahrija land owned by the former president of the Nationalist Party, Victor Scerri.
Scerri resigned shortly after revelations that a permit previously refused to him had been awarded to him by MEPA’s development control commission, not according to planning policies.
In the meantime, the saga continued last week when the Ramblers Association claimed that builders on Scerri’s site were transporting waste land to another site at Landrijiet and dumping it there.
The Ramblers said the Bahrija site enjoyed the highest possible level of protection, but four building permits had been issued for Scerri’s property, the fourth of which was revoked last August upon an investigation by MEPA’s audit officer Joe Falzon.
The Ramblers insisted the first two permits were no longer valid because five years had elapsed since they were issued, and the third permit did not allow any building works, because it was only an amendment to a clause of the second permit, regarding limitations on demolition.
The Ramblers said that the fact the third permit was issued simply to amend the second permit, did not mean the second permit’s validity had been extended, arguing that MEPA should not allow further work on the site.
The Ramblers added that building works violated the restoration method statement and the development plans were lacking important details, such as the location of the cistern, which was to be built outside the footprint of the proposed development.
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