Former Nationalist mayor Robert Musumeci has been appointed consultant to Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Michael Farrugia and will offer “guidance” to carry out the electoral pledge to split the planning and environment authority.
Mr Musumeci’s role would be part-time and his financial package was being negotiated, Dr Farrugia said yesterday during the first meeting of the new board of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
He said Mr Musumeci – an architect with a reputation for handling outside development zone applications – served as a consultant to the previous Administration.
When it was pointed out that the Labour Party had described the planning reform – to which Mr Musumeci was a consultant – as the “biggest failure of the Nationalist government”, Dr Farrugia said “whether they listened to him is another matter”.
Mr Musumeci will be Dr Farrugia’s personal adviser on a number of issues, especially the division of the planning and environment remits of the authority, which is expected to be in place by the end of 2014.
Mr Musumeci is a former PN mayor of Siġġiewi. He did not seek re-election and until recently co-presented a discussion programme on Labour’s television station.
The new Mepa board, unveiled earlier this week, is chaired by Vince Cassar, a former president of the Chamber of Architects, and is made up of businessman Paul Apap Bologna, Charlo Camilleri from the Agriculture Department, university professor Victor Axiaq, Ray Camilleri from the Land Department, lawyer Veronique Dalli, financial consultant Matthew Pace, lecturer Timothy Gambin, businesswoman Angele Zammit and Ivan Tabone from Transport Malta. Deputy chairmen Sandra Magro and Franco Montesin, who each head an Environment Planning Commission, will retain their roles.
Lawyer and MP Joseph Sammut represented the Government and they were still waiting for the Opposition to inform them who would be their representative, Dr Farrugia said.
The board members have wide and different remits and their experience would be of great use to reform the authority, especially in the upcoming revision of the local plans.
To catch up with the backlog of planning hearings, which were put on hold for the past three weeks, the board would be meeting twice weekly instead of once a week. The cases were expected to be brought up to date within four or five weeks.
Dr Farrugia said that a call for expressions of interest related to a major project would be launched in the coming weeks. However, he refused to specify the type of project and said discussions first had to be finalised with the planning authority and Land Department.
Meanwhile, Mr Cassar said a more user-friendly and transparent system was needed especially since the authority had a very important impact on a number of sectors, such as the economy and the environment.
The board would work on improving the time frames of certain projects, especially large ones and those dependent on EU funds. Those who signed off projects would be responsible for their decisions.
The Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers welcomed Mr Cassar’s appointment, saying since his appointment in 2009 he had performed his role with the utmost dedication and competence.
During his presidency, the chamber took an active role in discussions with the authority on a number of aspects, from administrative issues to policy making.
Mr Cassar’s resignation from the chamber means the post of president is now vacant and an extraordinary general meeting will be held shortly.