The internal call to fill the post of planning authority CEO has received two applications, with a decision expected next week.

One of the applicants is an employee who had already been pinpointed for the post before the call was issued, senior planning officer Johann Buttigieg, sources said.

The decision now lies with a special evaluation committee made up of the planning authority chairman and two external members.

Confirming the applications, Michael Farrugia, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, said the choice will be made following formal interviews.

Sources at Mepa told Times of Malta that Mr Buttigieg, who has been employed with the authority for a number of years, has been “ordering people around” in recent weeks.

He is said to have been one of the reasons why the former CEO, Ian Stafrace, tendered his resignation in April.

Dr Farrugia had admitted then that Mr Buttigieg was his “point of reference” at the authority and was helping to give Mepa “a certain direction”. He said he was instructing Mr Buttigieg on what needed to be done there.

Asked how Mr Buttigieg had been chosen and why, Dr Farrugia said he could trust him and provide him with precise information on what was going on.

He denied that Mr Buttigieg was “the anointed one”, poised to take on the role of CEO, adding that all Mepa employees could apply for the job.

Dr Stafrace’s resignation had come a few hours after that of Mepa’s environmental protection director, Petra Caruana Dingli.

Dr Farrugia said yesterday he had asked Dr Caruana Dingli to reconsider her resignation as it had not been accepted by the Government, but Dr Caruana Dingli had stood her ground.

Dr Farrugia said her replacement will be made following another internal call although it would fall under the responsibility of Environment Minister Leo Brincat, following the splitting of the environment and planning arms of the authority.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com