A man who invested €12,000 in a gas tank beneath his front garden to fuel a heating system had been breaching the law because his tank was supposed to be an 'irrigation reservoir', a Mepa official told a court this morning.
Jonathan Camilleri Bowman was taken to court by the police after neighbours' complained about his 1,000-litre liquid petroleum tank.
Kevin Ciantar, a Mepa enforcement officer, admitted in court that the authority did not yet have a policy on gas tanks.
Mr Camilleri Bowman is insisting that he installed the tank after getting the necessary certification from the Malta Resources Authority.
He has not been able to use the heating system since January when Mepa issued an enforcement notice on grounds he did not have a permit for the tank.
Taking the witness stand, Police Superintendent Antonello Grech said this morning the police had taken action because Mr Camilleri Bowman’s permit was for a water reservoir and not a gas tank.
An enforcement notice was issued in February but the owner ignored it and the police pressed charges.
Mr Camilleri Bowman’s defence lawyer Roberto Montalto said that he and his client had discussed the matter with Mepa chairman Austin Walker who said that the authority would soon be issuing a policy on such tanks.
Dr Montalto argued that there could not be an enforcement notice on a non-existent policy. Permission for his client to have the tank, he said, had been issued by the MRA.
He said that in a month’s time his client would have all the necessary Mepa permits.
However, lawyer John Vassallo, who is representing the neighbours who originally complained about the tank, said that if a law was broken now and this was changed within a year, it would still have been breached.
“We should ask Mr Walker if he feels safe with gas storage under his house,” he said.
Dr Montalto retorted that this was much safer than six gas cylinders stored without permission. He pointed out that the tank was not being used at the moment.
PS Grech said this was because the MRA had stopped the supplier from supplying Mr Camilleri Bowman with gas.
The case continues in January.