Planning parliamentary secretary Michael Farrugia has asked MEPA Environment Protection director Petra Caruana Dingli nee Bianchi to reconsider her resignation.

Dr Caruana Dingli had tendered her resignation earlier this week.

Dr Farrugia said this morning that he had met with Dr Caruana Dingli yesterday, following her decision to tender her resignation earlier this week. He said he had urged her to have a rethink.

The planning parliamentary secretary also revealed that a call for applications for the post of MEPA CEO would be issued in the next few days, following the resignation of the previous incumbent, lawyer Ian Stafrace.

Dr Farrugia admitted that details for a government proposal to fast-track certain planning applications had yet to be ironed out. Under the proposals, developments which adhere to local plans and planning policies will be given a development permit with minimum scrutiny.

According to Dr Farrugia, applications would undergo preliminary screening and be signed off by a case officer. A yet-to-be-determined audit function within MEPA would then randomly inspect projects submitted through this process.

"If a case officer is found to have been tampering with the process or signing off on projects they shouldn't have, they will have to face the full consequences of their actions," Dr Farrugia said.

"We want to simplify the planning process and make it more transparent and accessible. But we will not tolerate abuse."

He again argued that cheaper planning fees would stimulate dormant development projects, saying the number of permit applications had halved when fees were raised.

Talks were also underway to see whether large development projects might be able to stagger payment of permit fees, he said.

Dr Farrugia was speaking during a tour of the Government printing press in Marsa. The press - the oldest on the island, having been first established in 1642 - employs 56 workers, who print the vast majority of all government-related material.

Such material ranges from educational leaflets to the Government Gazette, electoral registers, ballot papers and the Budget speech.

Printing press director Carmel Sammut said that the press recycled all its waste and had installed photovoltaic panels on the roof to maximise energy efficiency.

Dr Farrugia congratulated him on managing to keep within budget and told workers the Government was looking into upgrading printing press machinery to include a four-colour printer.

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