Fort Cambridge sitting not a good omen for reformed Mepa - NGOs

Environmental NGOs were fuming in the aftermath of the turbulent Mepa board meeting on the Fort Cambidge project which kicked off on Thursday with the press accidentally discovering a press statement which announced that the project had been approved, before the hearing had even started.

"Coming in the aftermath of the bad decisions taken on the Safi supermarket, the Mistra apartment block and the JPO (Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando) fiasco, this (incident) underlines the need for the Prime Minister to make good on his pledge to sort out the authority," Din l-Art Ħelwa executive president Martin Galea said.

He added that "...the authority's credibility is at an all-time low".

The detailed statement, which carried the title Approved Fort Cambridge Project Loyal To Development Brief Guidelines, was discovered moments before the hearing started by a journalist who had it in her press pack.

Following a bumpy three-and-a-half-hour hearing, the board approved the controversial 20-floor project unanimously.

The freshly appointed chairman, Austin Walker, was questioned about the statement as soon as questions started being taken. He defended the authority, saying that a similar statement that pre-empted a negative outcome had been prepared. But when asked for a copy of it by angry residents, he flatly refused, adding that he felt it was not in the public's interest.

Veteran environmentalist Edward Mallia said the chairman's reaction did not auger well for the "supposed new reign" at Mepa.

"The situation is quite straightforward as I see it. If the chairman had the other statement he should have shown it to everyone. He cannot arbitrarily decide that this is not an issue; if it comes in the hands of the press it becomes an issue," he said.

He also commented on the fact that director-general Godwin Cassar, who was present at the sitting, did not say a word. "The post of director-general to me is one which carries the responsibility for everything that goes on in the authority. He just sits there with his mouth shut... The implication of this incident is clear and very serious which is that the hearings are a put-up job," he said.

Similarly, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar coordinator Astrid Vella, who was present at the meeting, said the press release incident confirms that public consultation is a sham and that "it is still developers that rule this country due to a weak political class who are not prepared to stand up to them".

The Office of the Prime Minister had been asked to react to the incident and more or less repeated the authority's version after asking for clarification. However, no comment was forthcoming on the reaction of the chairman to the residents' demands for an explanation.

Echoing Prof. Mallia, the Ramblers' Association President Lino Bugeja said the whole debacle does not bode well for the new chairman, "on whom a lot of hopes were pegged".

"This just keeps casting shadows on Mepa and what is also worrying is how the journalists, who were doing their job, were treated," he added, referring to a statement by the authority's PR executive saying that the document had been maliciously removed from working papers he had left in the room. "The journalist did well to bring up this issue, it's their job," he said.

The development was reduced to 20 floors after the board decided in a sitting early last month that the original 23-floor proposal was excessive. During that sitting, Joe Farrugia, one of the board members who did not attend Thursday's meeting, suggested that the developers should stick to the 16 floors as stipulated in the local plan, given the overbearing visual impact which the project had on the area.

The developers returned with fresh plans for a 20-floor building but, despite being four floors higher than what was suggested by Mr Farrugia, the block will still be the equivalent in height to what a regular 16-floor building would be as each floor was trimmed so that the block would fit into this height limit, while retaining a larger amount of apartments.

Nonetheless, the FAA, which has been spearheading the campaign against this project, insisted that the authority has ignored the residents' concerns over the increased traffic and pollution which the project would bring about as a result of the increase in residents' vehicles.

"In its insistence on approving the Fort Cambridge project before the completion of some of the most essential environment studies, Mepa and the government have betrayed the citizen," the NGO said, pointing out that key elements of the traffic's impact would not be reviewed.

Mepa had said on this point that it would rather have a study for a comprehensive traffic plan for the area, but the NGO is insisting that, by giving their green light now, no amendments to the development can be made even if the study finds need for it in the future.

"Thus the government had two options. It could either gratify investors immediately or wait a few weeks for the conclusion of the Sliema Traffic Impact Study and implement any improvements that the study recommended regarding the Fort Cambridge project that will affect the health of Sliema's residents all the way up to Savoy," the FAA insisted.