Carmen Sammut has been appointed chairwoman of the Majjistral Park board.

The other members are Nadya Suda Lanzon (Mepa), Martin Galea (Din l-Art Helwa), Vince Attard (Nature Trust), Rudolph Ragonesi (Gaia Foundation), Joe Cristina, who will take care of board’s finances, Mellieha mayor John Buttigieg and board secretary Darren Saliba.

A representative of the Land Department will be nominated at a later stage.

Environment Minister Leo Brincat said during the appointment of the board this morning that since the park was opened in 2007, there had been no legal notice regulating access to it.

The board had, for the past years, been trying to reach an agreement with the hunters’ federation for hunting to stop at 9am but this was never reached.

The government had now entered into discussions with the federation and an agreement was reached for hunting at the park to end at 10am. The necessary legal notice would be issued in the coming weeks.

Mr Brincat said that the Government will also be looking into the €111,000 the government owed the park’s management for 2011 and 2012.

The government would have to look into whether there were any provisions for the park were made in this year's budget.

"I will assume responsibility to honour payments and pay what is overdue," Mr Brincat said.

He appealed to the board to be transparent, pointing out that the 2012 accounts had only been submitted in the past days.

The minister pointed out that the previous board had lacked the necessary chemistry to operate and there was a lack of legal notices which regulated the operations of the park. So a better legal framework was needed. Parking and offroading, for example, had to be regulated.

"We should not have draconian rules that are difficult to implement and can be broken," Mr Brincat said, adding that, at the same time, access could not be unlimited.

He said that a distinction had to be made between supervision of the park and its day to day management but the board had to work in an autonomous manner, without the government's involvement.

Dr Sammut said believed in the participation of civil society and would create bridges with all stakeholders, including the public.

Mr Attard said that a visitors centre at the park's barracks would be opened before the end of the year.