Consultants should be appointed by MEPA – Joe Falzon
James Debono
Consultants drawing up reports on technical issues such as noise levels should be appointed by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and paid by the developer, MEPA auditor Joe Falzon has proposed in his annual report.
The Auditor lambasted the current system whereby consultants are hired and paid directly by the developer concerned.
Falzon also reiterated his earlier complaint that MEPA continually puts spokes in the wheels of his office.
“Every effort is made by MEPA to try and prove that the Audit Office is wrong,” he notes in his report. “This leads me to conclude that the MEPA expects the Audit Office simply to applaud its actions, whatever they are.”
According to Falzon, an Audit Office of this type is of no use whatsoever.
“If this negative attitude continues, the MEPA reform may as well consider abolishing the post of Audit Officer as it would be irrelevant.”
According to Falzon, reports written by consultants appointed and paid by the applicant are of little use, as they seem to serve only one purpose: “that of camouflaging the provisions of policies and giving the impression that all is well, when in reality applicants are being assisted to ride roughshod over the whole planning process “with MEPA conveniently presenting a Nelson eye which looks but does not see”.
According to Falzon this problem will keep recurring as long as the experts examining and assessing the impacts of a particular development are directly appointed by the developer who foots the bill for their services.
“If such experts are appointed by MEPA at the developers’ expense it is likely that such problems will decease substantially,” Falzon said.
In his report Falzon denounced that many professionals, employed to advise their clients on aspects of a development application, seem to believe that their role is limited “to depict the development being proposed by their client in the most favourable light”.
The auditor referred specifically to an application in Paceveille to change a retail shop into a bar. The developer presented a noise report which indicated that noise annoyance was unlikely. But in his report the engineer only assessed the noise generated by equipment in the bar – “presumably the refrigerator and coffee-making machine,” Falzon noted.
In another case, this time concerning the installation of a generator on the roof of a commercial establishment, the noise impact report similarly concluded that noise annoyance was unlikely. “But the report assessed only airborne noise and did not consider noise transmitted through vibrations”.
While welcoming the assistance provided by the Ombudsman Joe Said Pullicino to his office, Falzon complained of an excessive backlog of cases requiring investigation which is still excessive.
“Most complainants have to wait an unacceptably long time to have feedback on their complaint.”
Given the situation, the Auditor complains that it is impossible for him to initiate any investigation on the working of the MEPA unless a specific complaint from a member of the public has been received. In this respect, the auditor expressed his wish to investigate applications approved outside the development zone, where a Planning Directorate recommendation for a refusal was overturned by the Development Control Commission.
“From the few cases investigated indications point towards the preliminary conclusion that the DCC/MEPA Boards have been extremely liberal in overturning negative recommendations and approving such applications despite the provisions of the Structure Plan and various policy documents to the contrary”.
But the auditor complains that he does not have the resources to conduct a more detailed investigation in order to establish an overall view of the criteria used by the DCC to overturn recommendations received in respect to Outside Development Zone (ODZ) applications.
The Auditor still expresses dissatisfaction at the way his office is treated by MEPA.
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