Mepa refuses to sanction Dwejra boathouses

Michael Magri

Jun 24th 2011, 14:40

In another article by Juan Ameen on the same subject, in today`s Times entitled:- .."..Mepa adamant not to tolerate the illegal use of protected land.." it said that:-

"..The planning authority board yesterday threw out five requests to sanction extensions to controversial boathouses at protected Dwejra Bay in Gozo..."

Imma skuzi ta Sinjuri tal-MEPA... Dawn x`Buzullotti ta Genn huma... Jekk il-bini ta taht huwwa mibni `KONTROVERSJALMENT` jew ahjar BLA PERMESS, ghalfejn qedin nilaghbu ta noli bl-estensjonijiet...!!!!!

GHAX JEKK IRRIDU `NKUNU SERJI U KREDIBBLI, GHANDNA NWAQQGHU KOLLOX.... U XEJN ANQAS.....!!!! JEW DAN GHAX GHAWDEX HEMM XI LIGIJIET DIFFERENTI MINN TA MALTA.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SINJURI TAL-MEPA.. IDDAHQUX NIES BIKHOM AKTAR... PLEASE.....!!! WILL YOU...??????

Il-Veru Kif Jghid Is-Sur John Bundy fid-diska ferm popolari tieghu:- ".. Konna Ghadna w`Nibqghu, PAJJIJZ TAL -MIKEY MOUSE.." GRAZZI JOHN....

Mr John Azzopoardi

Jun 24th 2011, 11:44

Return Dwejra to it's natural beauty and remove all the structures surrouding it. They are nothing more than eyesores and they are ungly eyesores. They are not houses, but ugly garages built on government and people's land.

Ms pamela hansen

Jun 24th 2011, 11:21

Great that no extensions were allowed, but if these are illegal structures (in the photo) should they not be taken down once and for all!

Alison Refalo

Jun 24th 2011, 10:54

i do agree that there must not be any alterations to the boathouses already there, but do any of you know that some of them have been built more than hundred years ago???

Mr Victor Laiviera

Jun 24th 2011, 10:26

If Mepa (for MEPA, read the Government) wants to be taken seriously in environmental terms, it has to take whatever measures, pass whatever laws and pay whatever compensation is necessary for every single bit of construction to be removed from the Dwejra "bowl".

No partial measures can ever be enough.

j brincat

Jun 24th 2011, 08:45

I hope MEPA does not have a change of heart once election is round the corner, as happened in the last election when permits were issued on its eve!


(jb)

Ms Lesley Kreupl

Jun 23rd 2011, 22:39

Well done MEPA for refusing to sanction some of the Dwejra boathouses. However it seems that again your board seems to be using different criteria for different people!
Nobody has ever answered my questions about what happens to the sewage down there - I suppose nobody in their right minds would swim there anyway - but have all the cesspits been sanctioned as well, or have they simply been ignored?
The restaurant-cum-info centre is truly disgusting and is a real eyesore. I concede that it is better than the first attempt, but only marginally. To put it politely, a certain local mayor and his business partner should be tarred and feathered, if not worse!

Joe Fenech

Jun 23rd 2011, 21:16

another MEPA blunder!

Mr Alex Buds

Jun 23rd 2011, 19:58

They're disgusting constructions sullying a very beautiful place. Demolish them all. No apologies.

Mr James Tyrrell

Jun 23rd 2011, 18:59

"Din l-Art Ħelwa and Nature Trust pointed out that Dwejra is a Natura 2000 site and of ecological, geomorphological, fauna and marine importance and deserves full conservation and environmental protection." I don't remember them saying much when a film company were dumping quarry waste in the area!

"The Malta Environment and Planning Authority had def­ended its decision, saying it formed part of a process that went back to 2005 called the Dwejra Heritage Park Action Plan to stop, among other things, hunting and dumping in the area." I ask the question again which MEPA did not answer the last time I asked, are they aware that the waste that was removed from the fossil beds has been dumped along the side of the road to San lawrenz and how does that fit into their action plan?

"The chairman, Austin Walker, said that this sort of development was not in line with the requirements of special conservation areas and not in the public interest." I suppose it should be considered as a plus point that MEPA have finally realised that Dwejra is a special conservation area!

Mario Grima

Jun 23rd 2011, 18:31

Wait till the next elections when these same boathouses will be sanctioned. Five boathouses can rake in around 15 votes. This is exactly what happened during the last elections in the same area at Dwejra withthe sanction of that concrete monstrosity.

Mr Joe Xuereb

Jun 23rd 2011, 17:56

From what I read, MEPA seems to get a lot of stick for sanctioning buildings it shouldn't. So this sounds good and may we see more.
Malta has many beauty spots. But there's something about the Maltese psyche that is flawed. If an individual has money - and in Malta we say that money allows for the building of a 'road in the sea'(tagħmel triq fil-baħar), metaphorically speaking of course. Elsewhere this happens and we call such a road a 'causeway'. See link:
http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/galleries/greece/blg-gr-monemvasia-causeway-and-rock-of-monemvassia-2.htm - Scroll down for a picture of the causeway - Search for Monemvasia Causeway for more information. I discovered the place when I was eighteen, travelling through Greece on my own. From a beach near by I 'stole' a handful of pebbles, some translucent like glass, some variegated in different colours, some long and thin like bits of pencil. I have them still in a jar full of distilled water, there on my window-sill in the kitchen. Collected fifty years ago. I was impressed. I slept in a farmer's 'shed' full of six-inch spider s and his unwelcome attention - I was worldly already, and already very discerning. Not my fault I had green eyes and curly hair. I had no money other than for necessities.
I was saying: If the Maltese have money they choose a beauty-spot and decide to live there. Of the beauty-spot, the beauty disappears and what remains is the spot, the blot-on-the-landscape.
The need for houseboats at Dwejra is interesting and induces curiosity. Are they required for Mr. Boatman to fish from? Not for sailing, surely! it's only a cupful of sea. Maybe it's the (sexual?)frisson one experiences in sailing through the fissure in the rock - very erotic! - and thence, the open sea. Nice experience I imagine but a bit infantile.
I was there once or twice in the past and I recollect a very few one storey buildings, an eyesore even then. It has gotten worse, has it?!

David John

Jun 23rd 2011, 16:32

You all people talk from your bottom end.
Have you been there recently? Have you seen that new building ,that was granted permission in the last few years, on the way down from Dwejra Square to the Inland Sea? Mepa approved such horrible new development and now is not sanctioning the extension of these already buildings. May be it's true that this extension is not inline requirements of special conservation areas and not in the public interest but how can a new development be in line then?

Qabel titkellmu l-ewwel araw il-fatti sewwa. Toqghodux tpatptu min ghanjkhom. Kulhadd u nerga nghid kullhadd ghandu xi jxomm taht idejh. Min ma ghandu l-ebda dnub jitfa l-ewwel gebla.

Maria Vassallo

Jun 23rd 2011, 16:29

Thank you, MEPA!
U mela kulhadd jaghmel li jrid!

But what about that illegal building in Mellieha? Are the lawcourts still meditating on it to give you their blessing and go ahead for its demolition?

Mr Victor Laiviera

Jun 23rd 2011, 16:12

It is truly sickening to see people congratulating MEPA (for MEPA, read the Government) for refusing 5 applications and putting 3 on hold when it was this same MEPA which, just 2 weeks before the last elections, sanctioned no less than 15 illegal boathouses built by the Inland Sea.

We have become like lapdogs which lick our master's boot just because he stops kicking us.

Mr Joe Morana

Jun 23rd 2011, 16:00

Well done MEPA. A step in the right direction.

Mr C Galea

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:44

Quite rightly so. one cannot understand this idividual mentality,i certainly cannot. is there ever going to be and end to this sort of selfishness in maltese society ? one can and should and ought to include and cover such laws as the condominium laws here as well, reason we are getting crowded in malta therefore the maltese at large need and must adapt to this situation. WELL DONE MEPA KEEP IT UP.

Mr Charles camilleri

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:38

Good job mepa. Now the next thing is to remove all the existing structure.

Mr JC Sullivan

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:38

That's show intestinal fortitude - another area of a beautiful island saved for future generations to enjoy.

Jason Borg

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:26

Prosit. Fl-aħħar ir-rota donnha qiegħda ddur xi ftit lejn id-direzzjoni t-tajba.

Mr Joseph Calleja

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:24

Good for Mepa. But to be honest and do the right thing, why doesn't Mepa take their bulldozer and other heavy equipment and remove all of the construction in the Dwejra basin. This is public land and there should not be any "boathouses" marring this beautiful area. Not to mention that these "boathouses" look more like a shanty. I remember when there was nothing there except the serene and quiet in that beautiful basin. Soon as they started taking over and building boat houses" Dwejra started to lose all of its charm and became just another place. What a shame we let such a beautiful place like the Dwejra Basin get ruined and be taken over by "house boat" owners. Give Dwejra back to nature and to the environment. Where is the Gozitan Heritage pride? Veru ghadna lura.

Mr Victor Laiviera

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:20

The statement that “ In February 2008, a number of environmental groups had protested loudly against the approval of around 20 applications to sanction illegal structures in Dwejra.” hardly seems to square with my recollection of what actually happened. Perhaps a glance at these letters from the archives may give a better picture.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080222/letters/the-dwejra-decision.197374

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080225/letters/nature-trust-faa-and-dwejra-1.197808

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080229/letters/less-vociferous-ngos.198348

Mr A Spiteri

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:18

this is only a confirmation that all that building is illegal...then let see some bulldozers demolish the whole lot!

Ms D Galea

Jun 23rd 2011, 15:11

I am amazed at the barefaced cheek of the owners for even applying for sanctioning in the first place!

Mr Ray de Bono

Jun 23rd 2011, 14:56

And what about l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha, Ghadira and Armiel?? Will MEPA keep rewarding land snatchers like this?

Raymond Sammut

Jun 23rd 2011, 14:47

I can spot at least three 2-story structures. What you have here is a new village. "boathouses in scenic Dwejra" means that the frog has been slowly cooked and the animal never knew it had been dying. To those who have not noticed yet, please note: this is not a "scenic" view.

Frank Portelli 2BFRANK

Jun 23rd 2011, 14:10

Well done MEPA

Dr Frank Portelli

Astrid Vella

Jun 23rd 2011, 13:58

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar which was present at the MEPA hearing this morning welcomes these refusals. We are dismayed that decisions on three of the cases were postponed.

What about the eyesore 'visitor centre', it's platform and large beams dominating the view down into the once-wonderful geological bowl of Dwejra? This is to forever remain a blot on our national environmental consciousness.

FAA also asks whether the sand deposited on the Dwejra plateau during last year's filming and subsequently dumped along the road up to San Lawrenz has finally been cleared.

Charles Micallef

Jun 23rd 2011, 13:58

WELL DONE MEPA, one decision in favour of common sense and the common man!

Mr Lawrence Mifsud

Jun 23rd 2011, 13:57

What is a boathouse? Are there any that show in the picture? LOL