Mepa urged to fully use its law enforcement powers

Environment Minister George Pullicino said yesterday that he was not satisfied with the level of law enforcement by Mepa and it appeared that the authority's officials were not making full use of their powers according to law.

Mr Pullicino said in Parliament that although he was not excluding amendments to the law to further improve the authority's enforcement powers, there was need for existing powers to be used fully.

The comments were made when the House debated the financial estimates of Mepa (Malta Environment and Planning Authority).

Mr Pullicino said Mepa had done a lot but much more remained to be done. The authority had an important but delicate role wherein it sought to maintain a balance between development for economic and social purposes and environmental protection. True, the authority could not hope to please everyone, but the government had made its operation as accessible and transparent as possible.

Mepa had an important role in economic development. Over the past financial year it had approved 430 applications for major projects, and Mepa-approved projects would pump Lm100 million into the economy. Up to June, the value-added of the construction industry had increased by Lm1.5 million over the same period in the previous year. Construction jobs were up by 300.

Mepa's revenue had increased by almost Lm1 million while outlay was up by Lm500,000, mostly for the green wardens. The balance, Mr Pullicino said, would be spent on environmental protection.

The minister said the top priorities next year were improved law enforcement and an exercise for the classification of historic town centres across the country. This classification was needed as the government sought to breathe new life into village cores. Buildings which deserved protection would continue to be protected, without excessive restriction where this was not justified.

It was worth pointing out, the minister said, that over the past year Mepa had only approved 15 per cent of requests for demolition of façades in historic cores.

Once this classification was complete, Mepa would issue new regulations. He felt that in areas of least protection, the authority should allow the use of PVC materials for apertures, subject to certain standards.

As for law enforcement, Mr Pullicino said some progress had been made and the number of pending cases had dropped by some 100 to 1,500, which was still too high. He said he was concerned that Mepa officials were not using all the powers available to them, especially in terms of the 2001 legislation. If necessary there would be new legislation for more powers to be granted to the authority, and he hoped the opposition would cooperate in this process.

Reacting to remarks by opposition speakers, Mr Pullicino said that while the government was being accused of having failed the development process by interfering in the authority, it was Labour MP Roderick Galdes himself who said last year that the government was legally obliged to set policy direction for Mepa because it was the government which was accountable to the electorate.

The minister said the authority last year received five per cent more development applications, and decisions rose by three per cent. Because of the publication of five local plans, the number of applications that were put off had been reduced, although much remained to be done.

At the same time Mepa's forward planning unit had approved development briefs for Fort Cambridge, the new fuel depot site in Birzebbuga, amendments to the Ta' Qali plans and the development plans for Ta' Marsija.

Mr Pullicino said restructuring at Mepa was paying off. Case officers who refused an application were now required to liaise with applicants. An office had been set up to assist the people and eight new planning officers had been engaged. A further seven would also be recruited. The DCC was approving 90 per cent of development applications on time.

Mr Pullicino said it was far from the case that development plans had been altered to please friends of friends. For example, one of the changes provided that in village cores there could be no semi-basements, thus preserving the height of buildings. It was also decided that a tenement could not be smaller than 120 square metres, to avoid over-development. Predictably, developers had not welcomed these changes.

Mr Pullicino said the land rationalisation exercise had been minimal but necessary and he was confident it would help to slow down price inflation. In this area the opposition had been, to say the least, confused, claiming it did not want extensions but then proposing its own.

It was worth noting, Mr Pullicino said, that while the average urban sprawl in Europe was five per cent every 10 years, in Malta, development areas had declined by five per cent since 1987, even if one took into account the small increase allowed recently.

Mr Pullicino said the new updated Structure Plan had been drawn up and was being discussed with stakeholders. It would be finalised next year.

He referred to the Mepa auditor's recent report. It was this government that had set up the Office of the Auditor to investigate complaints and make recommendations on how the development process could be improved.

He agreed with the auditor that some case officers were not using their own professional judgment. But it appeared that some case officers feared that by using their professional judgment they could be accused by the auditor of going out of line.

The auditor was right to complain of poor enforcement and of the way some government departments did not always cooperate with Mepa.

A code of ethics, mentioned by the auditor, would be finalised soon.

As for the practice of the board to see applications informally before public meetings, Mr Pullicino said Mepa argued this was needed for practical reasons for information to be compiled, and no decisions were taken. This, Mr Pullicino, was a matter which needed to be discussed further, but it was worth noting that this practice had existed since 1992, when auditor Joe Falzon himself was deputy chairman.

Mr Pullicino said he was surprised that the auditor had chosen to give a legal interpretation to the way public consultation was made ahead of the drafting of the local plans. However, going by his own comments, it appeared that legal amendments were needed in this area but the authority had acted legally. He was ready to move amendments to further improve the consultation process, the minister said, without undermining the planning process.

It was a pity, Mr Pullicino said, that the media had homed in on the auditor's report but not other aspects of the Mepa annual report, such as the fact that site inspections by Mepa had led to the discovery of 17 archaeological sites.

Replying to questions on the use of funds collected by Mepa, Mr Pullicino said the authority had given local councils Lm1 million from the Urban Improvement Fund.

Turning to environment protection, Mr Pullicino said Mepa had coordinated projects for which Malta was receiving €4.2 million from the EU. This work included the development of the first marine conservation site, the protection of the area around Filfla and the purchase of new air monitoring equipment such as that placed in Msida and Zejtun.

Mepa was also involved in the preparation of management plans for bird sanctuaries, Ramla, Ghajn Tuffieha, Ramla tat-Torri bays and Tal-Ballut, Marsaxlokk. The authority was also planning the restoration of St Paul's Islands. A list of sites deserving protection had also been drawn up under the Natura 2000 scheme of the European Union.

Mepa was also involved in new regulations for the construction industry which would include working time, boarding to reduce dust, closed containers for the carriage of debris and the designation of a site manager responsible for each development site. These regulations would be submitted for public consultation.

Referring to recent comments on the way the eco-tax was introduced, Mr Pullicino said he had never misled the House in comments he made last year. He had been challenged by the opposition to table an environment impact study on the tax, and he had replied that he would do so only when the opposition would table its impact study on the raising of water and electricity rates.

Therefore, he had never said that an environment impact study on the eco-tax had been drawn up. He had made his comment in the context of the fact that Labour had not drawn up an impact study ahead of raising the water and electricity tariffs and could not produce that report.

Nonetheless, in his speech he had referred to other studies made abroad, Mr Pullicino said.

Mr Pullicino said this was the only government that was committed to transparency in Mepa.

It had introduced new procedures and appointed the auditor for this purpose. In contrast, the 1996 Labour government had even wanted the Mepa board deliberations to be held behind closed doors. Access to plans would have been limited only to the architect concerned.

The estimates were later approved after a division.

Remarks by Labour MP Joe Brincat and Nationalist MP Joe Falzon will be reported tomorrow.