There is nothing illegal or illegitimate about the permits given for works on Castille Square, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
He was reacting to revelations that no full development application was submitted by the government for the makeover of the square, even though it includes major structural changes to a landmark spot in the capital city.
Instead of going through the full process, the planning watchdog gave the green light for the €1.6 million embellishment project through a simple Development Notification Order (DNO) – generally given for minor developments.
Asked if this was enough, given that other projects such as the renovation of St George’s Square, had to go through a much lengthier process, Dr Muscat shook his head in the negative and said: “In reality this process was completely legitimate and no laws were broken. Things need to be done and they will be done quickly,” he said.
The project is expected to be finalised by October, just in time for the Commonwealth summit a month later.
The DNO application, issued on February 17, took just 24 hours to be processed.
Pressed on the issue, Dr Muscat said other larger works such as the Safi closed centre, had been carried out without any form of permit being issued whatsoever. That, he said, was “a much bigger project and was done illegally”. Scepticism over the Castille project first arose because the planning authority is normally very stringent on development applications in urban conservation areas such as Valletta.
By way of comparison, the planning authority took its time processing an application for a bronze monument in Valletta in January – holding a public hearing, even though the project was much smaller than the reconstruction of the entire square.
Speaking to Times of Malta, architects accused the authority of being inconsistent.
Alex Torpiano, dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of Malta, expressed surprise that a project at a site of huge historical and architectural value did not warrant a full development permit.