House owner resists demolition plan

The owner of a 150-year-old town house in Mosta has asked the courts to stop the planning authority and Transport Malta from “illegally” and “abusively” demolishing his property to realign the road.

Michael John Darmanin, who works in Austria, filed a judicial protest arguing that the sole reason behind the demolition seemed to be an illegal strategy by a third person who wanted to increase the value of his property.

On July 5, Mr Darmanin received a notification from the planning authority informing him that Transport Malta had filed an application to demolish his house to realign the road, the protest said.

Three weeks later, he was informed by a neighbour about a site notice and he immediately sent a formal letter to the planning authority strongly objecting to the application.

He described the authorities’ actions as illegal and abusive because no expropriation notice was issued by the Land Department.

Also, Mr Darmanin said he was never informed that his house was going to be expropriated and the notice never appeared in the Government Gazette, as required by law.

The planning authority, Transport Malta and the Land Director were only allowed to act in the public interest and not abuse their power to “accommodate” third parties, he said.

He pointed out there was no need to realign the road and said that investigations he conducted revealed that his house would be demolished to accommodate a third party.

By knocking down his property, the value of a property owned by a third party would increase “considerably” because it would look directly onto the road, he said.

Mr Darmanin pointed out that it was very strange that the planning authority would allow a 150-old house with characteristic Maltese architecture to be demolished when it barely allowed 60- and 70-year-old houses to be touched, let alone demolished.

He said he bought his house in 1992 and would need it when he returned for good, especially since his 78-year-old mother suffered from Paget Disease, a chronic condition that left her immobile and in a wheelchair.

He called on the authorities to change their plans immediately and warned that he would hold them responsible for any damages.

Lawyer Kenneth Grima and Legal Procurator Sacha Guillaumier signed the judicial protest, which was also filed against the Director of Land.