Mepa is 'impotent' with big developers

Developers Polidano Brothers were left to do as they pleased at their Xemxija site prior to January's mudslide, the inquiry report into the incident has concluded, adding that the planning authority is "impotent" when it comes to controlling big developers.

In frank language, the report, commissioned by Environment Minister George Pullicino some two months ago, notes that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority is indirectly responsible for what happened on the site.

The inquiry was ordered after The Times reported that excavations taking place at the site adjacent to the St Paul's Bay bypass had caused a mudslide which left part of a building sticking out dangerously in mid-air.

This newspaper revealed that the works on site were illegal and that the developer had ignored enforcement notices to stop the works.

"In practice, the developer was left to do as he pleases, despite the fact that he is known for such behaviour, as becomes clear from the testimony given by the planning director," the inquiry board concludes.

"...Mepa is guilty in this regard because it sanctioned illegal projects by the same developer to avoid taking different actions which could have been more difficult."

The 45-page report was issued late in the afternoon yesterday along with a government statement acknowledging the findings of the inquiry and pointing out that a number of its recommendations were already being tackled through a reform of Mepa already underway.

The findings confirm the facts about the case as reported in The Times in January. Besides highlighting Mepa's shortcomings, however, the report also makes a number of radical recommendations aimed at tightening enforcement and imposing heavier penalties for contraventions of planning laws.

The authority is criticised for only using the stop notice as its tool to halt illegal excavations. This is a method which, although used consistently, has proved ineffective, the report points out.

The developer, in fact, would stop when told to do so by enforcement officers after being caught working on the site illegally, only to carry on a few days or weeks later.

"The notices issued were always for him to stop. Never was he notified to bring the site back to the way it was before the excavations."

Using this method, the board of inquiry notes, the developer managed to excavate the whole site.

On the extent of the excavations, it says: "The board cannot not show its concern at the fact that the developer was left to do this kind of environmental damage."

The board's recommendations are equally unequivocal. The developer should be made to rehabilitate the area as far as possible but only after submitting a detailed method statement to Mepa of how this will be done.

The pending application to build apartments and a structure which would shore up the site, submitted after the illegal excavations first started, should be decided upon as soon as possible under the present regulatory regime.

Finally, the authority is told to use all the clout afforded to it by law, including the confiscation and sale by auction of the developer's equipment, if he even "dares" carry on with illegal works in Xemxija.

From a wider perspective, the report calls for the immediate introduction of an amendment to the law which would raise the maximum possible fine for breach of planning laws to Lm10,000 from Lm1,000 and recommends that this should eventually be raised to Lm250,000 for major projects. It suggests that if the illegal development is carried out in the name of a company, the courts should have the power to force its liquidation and that directors should be held personally responsible for illegal building developments carried out in the name of their company.

When it comes to Mepa, besides revisions to current regulation, the inquiry also calls for increased accountability of the planning directorate. Especially when it comes to enforcement, the directorate should be consistent in the treatment of all applications, the report says.

A body should be set up to survey the work of the directorate when it comes to the enforcement of the law to ensure that everything is being done above board.

The board was headed by Mepa auditor Joe Falzon, with Victor Torpiano (Mepa director), Kevin Aquilina, Kevin Gatt and Peter Zammit as members.