Sant’Antnin plant application procedure

On behalf of the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs and the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Environment, we would like to refer to the article Judge Orders Appeal To Be Heard Again — Guilty Of Breaching Human Rights.

The ministry and the parliamentary secretariat had issued a statement, no. 107, on January 20. It is noted that in the article there was absolutely no reference to this statement. On the contrary, while ignoring the government statement, the author chose to include comments by Labour MP Owen Bonnici and by Joe Sant, who was chairman of the Front Against The Sant’Antin Plant.

The ministry and the parliamentary secretariat would like to draw attention to the fact that the courts indicated that the case has to be heard before the Planning and Review Tribunal. The government would like to note that because of the changes following the Malta Environment and Planning reform, this case will continue to be heard by the Planning and Review Tribunal.

In the statement, the ministry and the parliamentary secretariat stated that the government was consistent with the law articles that specified that such appeal cases had to be heard by the Planning Appeals Board that had also been appointed in accordance with the law. Therefore, the government had acted in accordance with the law.

The ministry and the parliamentary secretariat would like to reiterate that the court sentence delivered on January 20 is not one regarding the merits of the application itself but on the procedure adopted and on whether the Appeals Board, as constituted at law, was in a position to hear this case.

Finally, the ministry and the parliamentary secretariat confirm that as already declared on a number of occasions, the government always observed European and national regulations throughout the process for the applicable permit for the modernisation of the Sant’Antnin plant.

This was confirmed in separate decisions by the European Commission and the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament.

In effect, the sentence delivered by the court last week does not doubt this fact. It must be noted that the Sant’Antnin environment complex aims to:

• Increase waste separation;

• Use waste as a resource so that part of it is exported for recycling;

• Produce compost;

• Produce electricity; and

• Enjoy better health through cleaner air with less waste and less use of fuels.

At this stage, the government is seeking legal advice on whether to appeal the court’s decision.