In the past years, the Government Property Division has been one of the ‘consistent’ targets of any Opposition, whether Labour or Nationalist. Although it is the Opposition’s duty to keep the government in constant check, the problems with the Land Department have been accumulating over the last 30 years. For some reason, the previous administration did not feel the need to transform this department into an autonomous authority, emulating other sectors such as planning, transport, the environment, gaming, tourism and communications.
How would one describe the situation at the Land Department today? Unlike, for example, the Planning Authority, data concerning public land transactions is not readily accessible via an online public platform. Even so, there are no set valuation standards; consequently, market value assessments are bound to vary significantly depending on the parameters set by individual assessors. Policies enacted from time to time are not necessarily driven by a comprehensive strategy. As a result, individuals who have the occasion to deal with this department will tell you about the difficulties in having their requests duly processed.
To complicate matters further, the extent to which the minister responsible for public land should involve himself in the workings of the department is not prescribed by law, although the buck always stops with the politician. This issue becomes even more serious given that the current framework lacks an in-built checks and balances mechanism.
It is this background against which the incumbent government decided to transform the Land Department into an independent authority, styled as the Land Authority, through the Land Authority Act. The new law will bring about a number of changes.
For the first time, public property shall be managed according to a strategic vision embodied in the law
For the first time, public property shall be managed according to a strategic vision embodied in the law. The law itself stipulates that it is the authority’s duty to optimise land resources and its building resources for the economic and social development of Malta. Therefore, each and every land transaction must take place in that light. All individual requests (these may vary from a request to redeem a temporary emphyteusis to acquiring a piece of land though a sale) shall be processed within a centralised office answerable to a chief executive officer, who, in turn, shall recommend whether the board of governors should accede to the request or otherwise.
Although having the final say, the board of governors is still legally bound to register the specific reasons to justify each and every vote. An audit trail of all files, including all documentation and reports, shall also be kept. Every decision shall be subject to an audit. The minister shall have no say on the board’s decision.
An Opposition MP shall also sit on the board of governors.
Application reports, together with the relative decisions, including the reasons for the grant or refusal of any request, shall be made accessible to all.
Apart from the Opposition MP sitting on the board of governors, who may immediately report to Parliament any detected shortcoming, there shall be an in-built auditor, styled as chief audit officer, whose role is to, inter alia, scrutinise and evaluate any transaction to be entered into by the authority with a value exceeding €100,000.
Moreover, the auditor shall investigate all recommendations and decisions made by the chief executive officer or any other officer of the authority and report directly to Parliament. The auditor may only be removed from his office by Parliament.
Lastly, citizens who feel aggrieved by an administrative decision or any other penalty imposed by the authority are not left in the dark. The new legislation specifically provides the possibility for any person who feels aggrieved by a decision of the authority to seek redress before the Administrative Review Tribunal and have a decision made within six months.
It should be very evident from the above whether the government’s efforts are tantamount to a ‘sham’, as described by the Opposition.
Robert Musumeci is a consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister.