'Mepa: A government within a government'

Opposition spokesman on agriculture and fisheries Joe Sammut said on Monday that Mepa had become a mega-structure, almost a government within the government.

When Mepa had come to deliberate on the extension of the Freeport and the power station it had completely disregarded the needs of people around Birżebbuġa bay, including their health. The approved development had completely ruined the bay and the breakwater protecting it, leaving it prey to the elements. The question of whether the necessary studies had been made on currents and swells was still to be answered.

Before issuing permits for such far-reaching projects, Mepa should go into all necessary details before it was too late.

The contamination created by both the power station - with the lowering of the chimneys and the expected effects on vegetation - and by the extension of the Freeport were now there for all to see.

Dr Sammut said that now even the importation of genetically-modified produce would depend on Mepa. But did the authority have the right personnel to do the job? The minister representing Malta in Brussels had voted against GM produce, but the experts in Malta were in agreement. This made it premature to involve Mepa in such matters.

Should Mepa continue to get involved in almost everything that went on in Malta? Agriculture was one of the pillars of the Maltese economy, yet the sector had regressed over the past few years. Up to a certain extent, Mepa was responsible for this too.

One of the biggest problems faced by farmers was when they needed to build storage space for their machinery. Such structures were highly prized, but today farmers faced an authority that channelled applications for their construction in the same way as those for housing. This practice should change.

The poultry stock in farms would now have to be halved, and no-one had yet considered if already existing farms would be given some sort of consideration.

Many farmers had remained without aid they would otherwise have been entitled to, simply because Mepa had dragged its feet over an application to Brussels.

When a farm was no longer to be used as such because of the farmer's retirement, he was suffering grave injustice because he was not allowed to convert his land to any other use.