The public will soon be able to make anonymous reports about abuse of government property through a freephone service to be launched in the next few days, the Parliamentary Secretary for Land, Jason Azzopardi said.
Outlining the Government Property Division's (GPD) ongoing enforcement campaign, he said that owners of bars and restaurants who hold encroachment permits (to place tables and chairs outside their premises) will soon be receiving letters warning them of the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" enforcement tactic.
The letters, to be sent next week, will inform owners that the first time they are found in breach of their permit they will be warned; the second time the obtrusive street furniture will be confiscated and only returned after they pay the enforcement action expenses and the third time the encroachment permit will be revoked and a €1,000 fee imposed on re-applying.
Dr Azzopardi explained that since the campaign on illegal street furniture started in April the division inspected establishments all over the island and confiscated 117 tables, 426 chairs, 34 plants and 55 other items including umbrellas and amusement machines.
All this was done by the division's only two enforcement officers. An internal call for applications had been issued to raise the number to six.
The department is also clamping down on billboards set up on government property without authorisation from the Land Department.
A look at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's records showed that there were 114 approved permits for billboards of which 44 were on government property. In the next few days, letters will be sent informing the billboard owners to remove any illegal ones within 72 hours, he said.
Dr Azzopardi added that it had been brought to his attention that some local councils had demanded payment for the setting up of billboards that were not covered by necessary Land permits. This was illegal, he warned.
Billboard owners were arguing that they thought that the council's authorisation was sufficient.
However, Dr Azzopardi stressed, "ignorance of the law is no excuse" and the approval of the land owner (the government) is required to set up a structure.
The GPD and Local Council Association are meeting to iron out this situation.
Dr Azzopardi added that the local councils could issue provisional permits as they had done in the case of some establishments during the recent Maltese Nights in Marsaxlokk. In fact, the GPD had returned 61 confiscated items to establishments after it turned out they were covered by the provisional permit. The situation was brought about by a lack of communication between the local council and the division, he explained.
Dr Azzopardi stressed that there was a lot more to be done in safeguarding government property. The division was planning to have meetings with the Malta Tourism Authority to discuss the possible delineation of encroachment permits and enforcement of mobile kiosk permits, among other things.