Happy birthday Mepa 03905/03

Happy Birthday! Well not really a happy birthday at all. I mean let's face it: When you apply for a permit to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority that is in line with all the government's policies you would expect to have an answer within a reasonable time. Well maybe two years is a reasonable time for a slow moving government but in business terms two years is a lifetime. Furthermore, anyone in the research field knows that if you sit on your innovation for two years, then it will be history by the time you go to market.

I guess you must be wondering what I am blubbering about. Well, let me explain. Mepa application 03905/03 concerns the creation of an institute from a derelict, abandoned building. This building is being continually vandalised and used as a rubbish dump (see pictures above). The latest additions have been a car door and some mattress springs. The latest subtractions: one stone arch and a beam that used to hold up the ceiling. It is now in a state of collapse. A tragedy awaits the next visitor that boldly climbs on the ceiling of the place. The buildings close by have also recently been subjected to a bomb experiment by an amateur pyrotechnic.

I cannot give a clearer picture of the state of building and its surroundings. But the building awaits total destruction as years pass in order to obtain a permit to improve the place.

I had conducted a series of empirical measurements and found that the building is in an ideal location for an Institute of Alternative Energy and the collapsed parts of the building will be rebuilt with adequate insulation material to allow for comfort monitoring. There, my research on solar cooling will be put into action. This means that I planned to transform the existent ruins into a showpiece of research in Europe without putting any burden on the infrastructure or the surroundings. I sometimes imagine the pile of dust that must have collected on my initial letter to the Estate Management Department on this subject since February 7, 2003. At least it is not alone; it shares the company with at least another four letters at the same address, not to mention its cousins at the Malta Resources Authority and the "Nista Naqdik?" website.

This means that:

¤ Plans to put an existent building to good use - in line with government policies of using abandoned buildings instead of building new;

¤ plans to research and apply alternative energy in Malta - in line with the government's commitment of generating by alternative energy means; and

¤ plans to repair the building and immediate surroundings - in line with the government's policy of embellishing the environment have been shelved for more than two years while the building rots away and the rest of Europe excel in their applications of alternative energy systems.

I would have expected the government to grab the golden opportunity for such an investment. Then why has this application taken so long to be decided upon? I am not proposing to build a golf course on agricultural land. That, possibly, would have been justified in taking years to conclude. I am proposing a project that is positive in all respects. Even my attempts at getting feedback from the customer care coordinator at the office of the Prime Minister have failed. I have called once a week and the contact person is not available and never returns my call.

Happy birthday 03905/03 or should I pass on my deepest sympathies!