Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said today that the MEPA reform should include a review of policies to plug loopholes which some people had exploited to the extent that developments went against the spirit of the policies themselves.

He told Parliament this morning that while he agreed on the need for consistency in MEPA decisions, such consistency had to be rooted in good decisions. One had to be careful that a mistake made in the past did not set a precedent which was then applied to all future cases. Consistency had to be based on cases decided on correct information.

Dr Gonzi said that one of the main aims of the MEPA reforms was to make the authority more transparent, although the organisation was already one of the most transparent and accountable and some further measures had already been taken under the chairmanship of Austin Walker.

Dr Gonzi said he gave a lot of importance to the role of the MEPA auditor, but MEPA's own internal audit role was being strengthened.

It was important that efficiency was improved. It was unacceptable that the people were kept waiting even for three years to be told a ‘yes' or ‘no' on their proposed developments.

Dr Gonzi said progress had been made in MEPA enforcement actions. Legislation in this area proposed at the last legislature had not made it through Parliament and would now be improved upon before being moved once more.

Concluding, Dr Gonzi said MEPA was an essential instrument for the future of sustainable development which respected the quality of life, especially the environment.