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Letters | Wednesday, 03 March 2010 Issue. 153

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Parliament project is illegal

The MEPA Board met on Wednesday 17 February to decide on the changes to the Valletta Local Plan necessitated by the Government plans for City Gate, the Opera House and the bus terminus proposals.
This Board was set up ‘to ensure that the organization fulfils its functions and responsibilities efficiently and effectively, in line with its legal obligations within the parameters of rules, regulations drawn up for this purpose.’
I therefore quote from Malta’s Structure Plan, drawn up in 1990 to protect the Maltese islands (including Valletta), and which is legally binding since it was ratified by Parliament:
1. Policy Com 1: ‘A new Government administration centre will be developed outside Valletta to house most Government Departments, while Parliament itself and the Ministries will concentrate in the palaces and auberges of Valletta.’
As reported in the media the MEPA Case Officer argued that ‘this 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. 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.’ [sic]
I have to disagree vehemently with this interpretation of the policy and the reasoning behind it. We have only one parliament and that one parliament, along with all the other ministries, must make use of existing palaces and auberges in Valletta. That is what the policy says. That is the law. I am therefore questioning the language competence of the MEPA case officer, that of the entire MEPA Board and consequently the decision taken in this regard which is null since it goes against the law.
There are no two ways of interpreting the policy since it is clear-cut and uncompromising. Parliament and ministries must make use of the palaces and auberges in Valletta.
The application as presented also goes against a number of other MEPA regulations such as Structure Plan Policy BEN 2 and UCO 6. Despite this, the MEPA Heritage Advisory Committee (HAC) and now the MEPA Board incredibly saw absolutely nothing wrong with the Renzo Piano Plans for the construction of the Parliament building, the style and the materials to be used. Moreover the HAC was totally silent on the regulations that the project appears to violate.
It is pertinent to note here that two architects working for the private company that is handling the Valletta Project occupy key posts on the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee and the MEPA Heritage Advisory Committee (HAC). This is, in my view, a blatant conflict of interest and I am indeed surprised that such a conflict of interest has not been noticed by the media nor anyone in authority. In view of this conflict of interest the silence of HAC is of concern and should be explained. Worse still the MEPA Board decided to interpret its own laws in a ‘free’ and ‘unrestricted’ manner.
It would appear therefore that the system of checks and balances set up to protect and safeguard the interests of the Maltese islands, the cultural heritage contained within and the special status of Valletta, can be given a ‘free’ and ‘unrestricted’ interpretation in particular circumstances.
Who will answer for the loss of Valletta’s World Heritage status, if and when this happens? Moreover, given that there is not going to be a gate to the walled city and neither a theatre, it is evident that the real reason for the project is not the regeneration of Valletta but the building of parliament – a parliament that breaks its own rules.

 

 


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