Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg confirmed before a parliamentary committee this evening that a site assessment report which pointed to Zonqor as the site for a new university was prepared by his office. The Mepa Environment Protection Directorate was excluded from its preparation, as were the other directorates, because the brief from the Office of the Prime Minister was to keep all information confidential.
Replying to questions before the House environment committee, Mr Buttigieg refused to name officials involved in writing the report, saying he was taking responsibility for it.
Mr Buttigieg revealed that the original brief from the Office of the Prime Minister was to find a site in the South East of Malta. It was only after the recent controversy that the brief was change to incorporate all of the South of Malta.
The original brief was to identify a site of 50,000 square metres. A site of 25,000 square metres was now being sought, and some 100 areas are being evaluated.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr Buttigieg explained that at the government's request, Mepa had considered three sites for the university – Ta Barkat, Fort San Leonardo and Zonqor.
Ta' Barkat was dropped immediately because it was the site of a sewage treatment plant. Zonqor was found to be a better site than San Leonardo.
Carmel Cacopardi, deputy leader of Alternattiva said there needed to be a proper site selection exercise which truly considered all possible sites. His call was echoed by Din l-Art Helwa representative Joanna Spiteri Staines who said it was ridiculous that the site selection was made only between two sites.
She said a decent brief of the university's requirements should be produced and an objective planning group, separate from Mepa (the regulator) should be involved in seeking a site.
Replying to questions to Astrid Vella from Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar and Dr Farrugia, Mr Buttigieg said this was not the first time that a site selection exercise was made by Mepa, both for government and private activities. Private activities included SME clusters and St Michael School.
Although Mepa was a regulator, the study was made by his office, which was responsible for the directorates and was separate from the decision-making role of the authority.
He also insisted that Ricasoli was deemed unsuitable because of the waste oil facility there.
Labour MP Charles Buhagiar observed that the oil waste operator had a permit for 30 years granted by the former government.
Michael Briguglio for Front ODZ asked how Mr Buttigieg felt when he indicated Zonqor when Mepa’s own plans indicated the site as ODZ and a site for a nature park? Why hadn’t Mepa said ‘thank you but no thank you?’
Mr Buttigieg said Mepa did not recommend Zonqor but it was asked to decide between Zonqor and San Leonardo.
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said he was objecting that Mepa’s top official was claiming that Mepa had not recommended Zonqor. That was precisely what it had done, and the committee should not be misled.
Mr Buttigieg denied making such a recommendation. Dr Busuttil pointed to the report.
He read extracts from the Mepa report where Mepa said that San Leonardo was the least preferred option. The report said development of Zonqor had no impact of ecology and the area was served by a road network and other utilities and was adjacent to a developed site. It therefore merited further consideration.
Dr Busuttil said those paragraphs read by Mr Buttigieg showed how Mepa had recommended Zonqor and Mr Buttigieg should respect people’s intelligence
Nationalist MP Ryan Callus asked Mr Buttigieg whether, since the controversy broke out, the prime minister had asked him to discard Zonqor.
Mr Buttigieg said ‘no’.
The committee is to hold another meeting during which, Dr Farrugia said, it was hoped that alternative sites would be considered.