Construction magnate Charles Polidano, iċ-Ċaqnu, has turned down an opportunity to comment on the latest disputes he has with the planning authority over environmental abuses at his Ħal Farruġ properties.

I am sure that with goodwill, this is what will happen

The developer yesterday took the Prime Minister on a two-hour tour of a site in Magħtab where his company is boring a five-kilometre long tunnel that forms part of the interconnector project.

At the end of the tour, The Times asked for a comment on his latest run-ins with the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority but an assistant of Mr Polidano simply said it was not the place to discuss such matters.

Asked whether the Government should be using its muscle with companies like Polidano Brothers, who despite leading their industry had a record of environmental abuse, the Prime Minister said it was in the company’s interest to clear whatever issues it had pending.

“I am sure it is in the interest of a company which employs 800 to 900 people... to make sure things are in order with environmental law. I am sure that with goodwill, this is what will happen,” Dr Gonzi said.

Mr Polidano himself did not say anything when asked twice to comment.

The company has hardly ever commented on repeated controversies it has been embroiled in over the years over instances of environmental abuse.

In the latest case revealed by The Times in September, the planning authority sealed off two illegal outdoor storage depots developed behind the company’s headquarters in Ħal Farruġ.

Two months later, Malta Today revealed that the zoo at the group’s Montekristo estate, also in Ħal Farruġ, was built on an illegally developed site.