The government will tomorrow announce some 100 proposals as part of its plan to split Mepa into two entities responsible for planning and the environment respectively. This will pave the way for the creation the Development Planning Authority, Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia said this afternoon. He did not say what the other authority would be called.

He was speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with a delegation from the Malta Developers' Association.

The minister said that the initial plan had been to simply split Mepa, but this move in itself would not address red tape and a number of other issues. As a result the split would also mean that new procedures for the processing of development applications would be introduced.

The President of the MDA, Sandro Chetcuti, called for the re-introduction of the outline development permit procedure, which was replaced by a screening letter as part of the 2008 Mepa reform.

Mr Chetcuti said that this letter left applicants "in the dark" about whether their application woudl have been accepted or not, while an outline permit used to be a more definite reply.

He said that the renewed enthusiasm in the construction industry was being hindered by bureaucracy and the constant requests for studies for major development applications. These studies were sometimes needless and cost too much, he said.