Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning proposed the sifting of applications at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) so as not to lose time on those which did not deserve to be considered.

Speaking during a business breakfast on the authority’s reform, he said that outside development zone applications had to start with a big no and it would then be up to the applicant and the architect to convince Mepa otherwise.

“We cannot have a one size fits all policy,” Dr Gonzi said.

The Prime Minister linked the Mepa reform to others, including those of the public transport, rent laws reform and the water and electricity tariffs.

Other reforms had taken place at Mepa but, whereas the previous ones were more a question of how long a permit took to be issued, this was looking more at sustainable development.

The current reform at Mepa, he said, had to be seen in the context of the reforms in other sectors. For to address sustainable development there had to be regulations not just on development but also as on rent.

The Mepa reform also moved hand in hand with the electricity tariffs. For how could the people be convinced to install photovoltaics, insulation or double glazing if they knew they were not paying for what they consumed, he asked.

Malta’s challenge, the Prime Minister said, was bigger than that of any other country. For Malta was densely populated and had very little space at its disposal.

The Prime Minister said that the four principles of the Mepa reform were transparency, efficiency, enforcement and consistency.

The criticism Mepa got was not fair on Mepa and its employees because there was a lot of positive within the authority. It was one of the most transparent authorities with a high level of data accessible from its website. There was, however, not enough transparency on how decisions were actually taken.

Dr Gonzi stressed the need for efficiency saying it cost potential investors a lot waiting for permits to be issued.