News | Sunday, 21 February 2010

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FAA calls for legality on Valletta regeneration project

Conservation NGO Flimkien ghal Abjent Ahjar is urging the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to apply legality and ask for an environment impact assessment for the Valletta Regeneration project, which is due to begin within months.
“The project as presented violates a number of MEPA regulations,” FAA said.
A spokesperson for the organisation said that “the system of checks and balances set up to protect and safeguard the Maltese Islands’ cultural heritage and Valletta’s World Heritage Status is being undermined, while laws can be given a ‘free’ and ‘unrestricted’ interpretation in particular circumstances.”
Last Wednesday, the MEPA board convened to decide on changes to the Valletta Local Plan that were necessitated by Government’s plans for City Gate, the Opera House and the bus terminus proposals.
The regeneration project is expected to see a new home for parliament in Freedom Square. But FAA quoted government policy which outlines that parliament and ministries have to be housed in the palaces and auberges of Valletta.
“There are no two ways of interpreting this statement since it is categorical,” the FAA statement said.
But as reported, a MEPA Case Officer replied saying that FAA’s is a restricted interpretation.
“What the policy actually states is that the ministries and Parliament must stay in the palaces and the auberges, not that every ministry must stay in an auberge,” the case officer said. “Even if Parliament is built at City Gate, policy COM 1 would still be valid. It is furthermore the applicant which must consider alternatives sites.”
But the conservation NGO insists that there is no other interpretation of the law in this regard. FAA therefore questioned the MEPA Case Officer’s “attempt to obfuscate this issue” and challenged the decision taken in this regard by the MEPA Board.
Furthermore, the FAA said that the regeneration project erroneously claims that solutions for traffic and parking in Valletta have already been solved with the introduction of the CVA.
“The issue of access to Valletta once the road over City Gate is demolished has not been addressed and must be studied by means of a Traffic Impact Statement (TIS). Surely the TIS should have been carried out and presented to the MEPA Board before a decision of such magnitude could be taken and certainly before works or demolition commence.” Because MEPA Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations include ‘cultural heritage’ as a requirement for an EIA, FAA urged the MEPA Board to make an informed decision based on studies and assessments and not on the ‘free’ interpretation of its own regulations and the law.
“The MEPA Board has the legal responsibility to protect Malta’s heritage and environment based on the legality of the application irrespective of who made the application or the presence of objectors at the hearing,” the statement said.

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