The planning authority has a backlog of more than 8,000 pending enforcement cases, some dating back to the early 1990s, on which no action has yet been taken.
The figure emerged as Times of Malta was enquiring about a squatter who has been illegally occupying part of Zammit Clapp Hospital’s car park for almost a decade and using it as a paddock for his animals.
The squatter erected a fence in the car park and built illegal stables to house his horses and other animals, causing great inconvenience to residents and visitors to the hospital.
It would take another eight years for Mepa to catch up with the backlog
In a letter to this newspaper in August 2012, John Borg complained of “shifting responsibility from one department to another” as he queried several government departments about the ownership of the land after visiting the hospital.
An enforcement notice (ECF34/14) on the case was issued by Mepa last week but that may be of little consolation to residents and those using the hospital’s car park facilities.
Times of Malta asked when action was expected to be taken by Mepa and the planning authority replied it had a backlog of more than 8,000 cases pending enforcement action. A significant number of the cases dated back to the early 1990s. Mepa also pointed out that it managed to carry out “less than 1,000 enforcement actions in a year”. At this rate, it would take another eight years for Mepa to catch up with the backlog and that is if no other enforcement notice is issued.
Earlier this month, Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg told Times of Malta that the regulator had an additional 4,000 complaints from the public that still had to be investigated. Only after such complaints are investigated by case officers can enforcement notices be issued.
Mr Buttigieg blamed the delay on lack of resources in the enforcement section. He said Mepa aimed to increase the number of officers to 12 in the coming year, in addition to the inspectors from the Building Regulations Office who will be transferred to Mepa.
A report by the Auditor General tabled in Parliament last October concluded that “over a number of years, the planning authority’s enforcement function has lacked an adequate level of resources and administrative capacity”.
The 2010 Mepa reform was meant to address enforcement-related issues but the Auditor General remarked that the enforcement function was not supported by documented strategic and operational policies.
The Enforcement Directorate, established in 2011, inherited an enforcement function characterised by a backlog of cases including 2,065 outstanding executable enforcement notices. This number has quadrupled in under three years.