Development brief on Dock 1 area due shortly

A development brief to cover the area of Dock 1 at Cospicua is due to be completed in the coming weeks and will be followed by a public call for expressions of interest, Urban Development Minister and Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett told parliament yesterday.

He said his ministry was also working on a development brief for Fort St Elmo, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The minister was reacting to remarks on Tuesday by Labour MP Charles Buhagiar, who said the government had ignored proposals by investors to develop Fort St Elmo.

Mr Mugliett said that in terms of the law, the government could not speak directly to developers on the allocation of government properties, especially major ones, before drawing up a development brief and issuing a public call for expression of interest.

This procedure was necessary to ensure that the government could choose the most suitable option for the development of the properties, from the financial and social points of view.

In drawing up the development briefs for Dock 1 and Fort St Elmo, the government hoped it would provide opportunities for Maltese developers to invest their money in Malta and not elsewhere.

The minister was speaking during the debate on the transfer of government properties, on temporary emphyteusis or rent, to sports organisations, girl guides and scouts.

He noted that this was the fourth motion on the allocation of government property to sports organisations and NGOs of which one was moved by a Labour government. In all, some 100 properties and sports facilities had been or were being transferred.

The purpose of such transfers was to encourage better use of the facilities, promote capital investment in them and encourage activities which would create new revenue streams for the sports associations and greater participation in sports and voluntary activities.

The government, through the Malta Sports Council, would monitor the use of these facilities to ensure that contract conditions were respected.

He felt that in some sites transferred to national associations, not enough investment had been made, although significant investment had been made in others.

He augured that the sports council would be able to launch a programme of credit financing for sports facilities.

Mr Mugliett said some of the properties being transferred had potential not just for sports but also for other activities. The government currently laid down that the use of the sites had to be primarily for sports. However, he felt the associations should be allowed to also develop the sites for commercial reasons as long as the government received an appropriate return and as long as the commercial aspects did not override sports.

Earlier in the debate, Dr Josè Herrera (MLP) said that the government was reserving the right to repossess facilities on which there was a breach of contract, without compensation, but if loans had been made on the site with the hypothec having been transferred to the bank the government would be saddled with that loan.

The organisation running the site should need to have the minister's permission and to show a suitable financial position before taking the loan.

In keeping with the practice that the government sought parliamentary scrutiny when disposing of such facilities, it should also seek to obtain such scrutiny when disposing of assets in the form of shares.

Dr Herrera said current allegations of scandals over large government properties being abusively taken over by private firms for ridiculous prices, only to be further disposed of with huge profits after development, should be checked. This amounted to outright theft of government, and therefore people's, property.

During this legislature the government had passed good pieces of legislation regarding the registration of all lands and other measures to establish property ownership beyond any doubt. But it was now starting to appear that, albeit with all the modern technology at its disposal, the government did not really know the extent of its own ownership of real estate.

It was anybody's guess how frequently government land had been misappropriated over the years. This was symptomatic of weak government.

Turning to sports in general, Dr Herrera said Malta's favourite sport, football, was facing a major crisis on account of mounting financial problems. The days when everybody participated in sports on a voluntary basis had given poor results, but doing something about it meant clubs investing heavily. In turn they could rely only on sponsorships, which inevitably went the way of the major clubs to the detriment of the smaller ones.

He favoured a certain amount of latitude to the latter in their efforts to put their respective finances on surer footings. One way this could be done was by allowing a certain amount of sub-letting during the off-season, but the contracts being proposed in this motion ruled this out.

The government set up watchdogs over several activities, but it had no agency to supervise the professional administration of very valuable land, Dr Herrera concluded.

Other speakers will be reported tomorrow.