Planning authority chairman Austin Walker said he doubted whether a permit for the Labour Party proposed gas-fired power station could be issued within 60 days.

“It’s hard to comment about any time frames without any concrete proposals,” he said.

The 60-day planning deadline was mentioned by Labour energy frontman Konrad Mizzi who said the time frame was identical to that adopted by the Government when it signed the contract with Tecom Investments, the company building SmartCity.

Dr Mizzi defended his party’s plans when asked whether the time frame proposed by the PL to build a power station and accompanying gas infrastructure was realistic.

Mr Walker noted that one had to keep in mind that there had been a lot of preparatory work behind the SmartCity project, including the long process of drawing up the master plan for the area.

There had been an agreement that the planning authority would process the application for SmartCity within 60 days when the master plan and all the other equirements were in place, Mr Walker said. “If you had to ask me, on two feet, whether I could get a permit for somewhere like Hexagon House within 60 days I would tell you no,” he said, adding that it would be “presumptuous” of him to say he could.

One had to see what studies were needed or whether there were any environmental impact reports that had to be updated, for example, Mr Walker pointed out.

The screening process itself, where the planning authority would tell the applicant what studies were required and who would be consulted, would take at least four weeks.

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