Illegal works being carried out by con­struction magnate Charles Polidano at his Ħal Farruġ headquarters were yesterday halted by the planning authority’s enforcement officers.

The Government will not tolerate any form of illegal development

The enforcement comes a day after The Sunday Times reported that Mr Polidano, known as Iċ-Ċaqnu, had resumed the illegal development in recent days.

Yesterday morning, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told the press that the new Labour Government would not tolerate any form of illegal development.

Dr Muscat, who is directly responsible for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, said he would ensure regulations were observed and that enforcement took place.

Later in the day, Mepa issued a statement stating: “Development works which were being carried out without planning permission at a site in the area of Ħal Farruġ, adjacent to Poli Gas Ltd have been stopped”.

A Mepa spokesman said that, over the past few days, enforcement officers noticed that works had resumed on a site which a few months ago had been sealed off with concrete blocks.

These blocks had been removed after the developer requested permission from the authority to remove some of the plant machinery from the site.

“The authority warned the developer that should any illegal works resume on site the place will once again be sealed off with concrete blocks, resulting in disruption to the operation of his other permitted development,” the spokesman said.

He added that, in the coming days, the authority would be meeting with representatives of the Polidano Group to address the case and discuss other pending planning applications.

The Sunday Times reported that the illegal development at Ħal Farruġ resumed six months after the police were asked to take action over environmental abuse.

Work started again a few days before the election and continued recently, despite several enforcement notices and direct action in September when the area was sealed off.

Mepa had asked the police to initiate criminal action against Polidano Brothers Ltd, which is owned by Charles and his brother Paul, after they had ignored repeated warnings from the authority.

The development is taking place at the back of the company’s headquarters in Ħal Farruġ, all of which was practically built illegally over the past 20 years or so and then sanctioned by the planning authority.

When contacted by The Sunday Times, Paul Polidano said the site had merely been “cleaned”.

When it was pointed out to him that photographic comparisons clearly show that concrete was poured onto a large area, he had said: “I don’t know, OK, I don’t know. Bye.”

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