Mepa committee accused of abusive practices

A company that had constructed a hotel at Balluta Bay, St Julians, is accusing the Heritage Advisory Committee of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority of acting in violation of its own policies and in a discriminatory and abusive manner and held the committee liable for the damages it sustained as a result of rescheduling of other buildings in the vicinity.

Bajja Developments Ltd declared in a protest that in 2000 it had applied for a permit to construct a hotel on the site that contained Villa Cassar Torreggiani, St Julians.

The Heritage Advisory Committee (HAC) had recommended to the Mepa that strict controls be placed upon this development as it was adjacent to property scheduled as Grade 2. As a result, a height limitation had been placed upon the company for the construction of the hotel and it had also been forced to terrace the hotel it constructed.

The company had also been prohibited from making any alterations to Villa Cassar Torreggiani (itself scheduled as a grade 2 property) and had to provide a bank guarantee to Mepa for Lm35,000 to guarantee the restoration of the villa.

Because of the negative attitude on the part of the HAC it had taken the company years for its permit to be approved.

In its protest the company declared that as a result of all the conditions imposed upon it, the hotel depended upon the continued scheduling as grade 2 of the buildings around it, including houses at numbers 7 and 8 St Julians Ramp, St Julians.

However, in 2002 the HAC had declared that it had no objection to an application for the demolition of the house at 8 St Julians Ramp and for the construction of an eight storey high building on its site, even though the house was scheduled as grade 2. In 2003 another speculator had applied for the demolition of scheduled property at number 7 St Julians Ramp and for the construction of a seven storey high building. The HAC had again not objected to this.

The HAC, said Bajja Developments Ltd, was acting in violation of its own policies and in a discriminatory and abusive manner. Furthermore, following the HAC's lack of objection to the latest two applications, Mepa had declared that the houses at numbers 7 and 8 St Julians Ramp had been mistakenly scheduled as grade 2 when in reality they ought to have been scheduled as grade 3 buildings.

Bajja Developments declared that as a result of the HAC's illegal actions it was going to sustain losses running into hundreds of thousands of Malta liri. It concluded by calling upon the HAC to review its actions and held it liable in damages.

Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr Joanne Vella Cuschieri signed the protest.