James Debono European Commission sources have confirmed a three-year old investigation of the extension of building boundaries carried out by the government in 2006 is drawing to a close, and a decision is expected in the next few weeks.
It will be the first major decision affecting Malta since the appointment of new European Commissioner for the environment Janez Potočnik, who took over from Stavros Dimas.
The same sources confirmed that the assessment of documents submitted by the Maltese government has been finalised.
This is not the first time the Commission had given itself a deadline for the conclusion of its investigation. In April 2008, it said it would decide on the matter by May that year. But in May 2009 a spokesperson claimed it was still finalising its assessment of the “considerable amount of detailed information” provided by the government in response to its letter of formal notice of March 2007.
The Commissioner issued a letter of formal notice – a first warning – to Malta back in May 2007, for failing to abide to the EU’s directive on Strategic Environment Impact Assessments, when development boundaries were extended. The SEA Directive requires an impact assessment for any government plan which has an impact on the environment.
The changes to the development boundaries through a Cabinet memo were exempted from the strictures of the SEA Directive by the government, on the basis of certification by the “SEA Audit Team” – headed by engineer Chris Ciantar, a high-ranking civil servant in George Pullicino’s resources ministry.
MaltaToday revealed the audit team was only appointed by Cabinet on 15 June 2006, six months after Malta transposed the SEA Directive, and a full month after minister George Pullicino announced the extension of development zones. A month later, the audit team wrote to MEPA saying an EIA on the extension of the building zones was not feasible.
The government claims the extension is a continuation of the local plan process commenced 13 years ago.
The NGOs have pointed out that during the stage of parliamentary approval, considerable changes were made by MPs to the plans. The area for Smart City in Ricasoli was included at the eleventh hour after 21 July 2006, and which brought the amount of new land rendered developable to over 3% of the current development zone.
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