Call for free vote over cathedral museum

Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar is calling for a free vote in Parliament on the Opposition's motion urging the government to withdraw its support for the proposed underground extension of St John's Co-Cathedral Museum.

It said that all politicians had a duty to speak if they felt the processing of this project was irregular or if, as Mepa has already stated, it risked the cathedral's stability.

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has been harshly critical of what he described as an extravagant project but has refused to say how he would vote on the motion in Parliament.

The foundation was yesterday replying to a statement issued on Sunday by St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation president Philip Calleja who reacted to the Opposition's motion.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat will be calling on the government to revoke its backing for the project, propose the identification of other buildings in Valletta to serve as an extension of the museum and launch broad consultation on the priorities for the use of EU funds.

FAA yesterday said the public input for the Environment Impact Assessment was already flawed - the Valletta council had no copies of the Project Description Statement (PDS) for the public and the whole statement was very sketchy. The statement, the FAA said, gave no indication of emergency exits, sanitary facilities or equipment.

The public could not make an informed submission without knowing where air conditioners, large underground generators or air ducts were going to be positioned in historic St John's Square.

It pointed out that the PDS also lacked the geological studies of rock bedding planes, which would indicate the stability of rock near the cathedral.

FAA invited the public to make its voice heard by signing a petition at www.faa.org.mt.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party yesterday denied that the presence on the St John's Foundation of the government's permanent representative in Brussels, Richard Cachia Caruana, constitutes a conflict of interest, as alleged by Labour.

The motion says that the Planning and Priorities Coordination Division of the Office of the Prime Minister had approved the project, which would cost some €16 million, of which some €14 million would come from EU funds.

In the absence of a clear indication of the government's priorities for the use of EU funds, the presence of Mr Cachia Caruana on the foundation, which is behind the proposed project, gave rise to a conflict of interest, Labour holds.

The PN said the motion showed that the Opposition was unaware that the government had published the country's priorities for the use of EU Funds through the National Strategic Reference Framework in December 2006, and through two Operational Programmes published in June 2007.

Both documents are public and can be viewed on the government's website.

Moreover, the EU will not approve the allocation of funds unless these priorities have already been established.

"Labour's motion is therefore based on a false premise, as is the allegation that Mr Cachia Caruana has a conflict of interest in this matter."