The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) wants the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to be transformed into an authority that inspires confidence, is fair, transparent, consistent, efficient and pro-active and is not influenced by political pressure.
GRTU director general Vince Farrugia said yesterday there was overall consensus in Malta that Mepa needed to be reformed.
The GRTU believes that, for the reform to be successful, it should be implemented gradually, allowing Mepa to be led by its strengths and good practices.
Mr Farrugia said there was general concern regarding the amount of development that has taken place over the last 20 years. NGOs had become more vocal against indiscriminate and insensitive overdevelopment, ironically sponsored by the government itself, such as Pender Place, Fort Cambridge, Fort Chambray, Vittoriosa Waterfront, Tigné and Manoel Island, signifying a major failure by Mepa to strike a balance between development and the environment.
The pro-development lobby and construction industry consistently levelled their attacks against Mepa for its bureaucratic practices, which led to lengthy processing times for development permits.
The transition to local plans had been lengthy, conflicting interpretation of policies was still rife and the Structure Plan was in a dire need of revision. Moreover, the Commission for Sustainable Development was, to the GRTU's knowledge, non-functional.
Mr Farrugia said the GRTU identified as Mepa's main problem the lack of leadership and management. Favourable treatment should be given to developers who chose to accept more than the minimum acceptable environmental conditions.
The GRTU proposed the setting up of a change team under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister.
The roles of directors should be merged into that of one CEO and there should also be a round-the-clock customer call centre.
The GRTU proposed the setting up of one full-time DCC board with competent professionals who had environmental competencies. These people, Mr Farrugia said, should be adequately remunerated for their work.
Training should be continuous and the Development Planning Act and the Environmental Act should be merged.
The GRTU proposed that Mepa should be made liable to damage caused by its administrative mistakes.
It proposed relaxing planning policies for major projects with the aim of achieving sustainable development. A pre-submission meeting with Mepa and potentially-affected residents should be held in the specific case where policy was not in line with the proposed development.
Mr Farrugia said the GRTU believed there was a lot of talent within the organisation that needed to be tapped so that the reform would be owned by the individual employee and not just by the management and/or the government.
Sandro Chetcuti, president of the GRTU's property development division, said the GRTU wanted to be involved in the reform process because it believed it could give a valid contribution for a balance to be struck between the environment and sustainable development.
The GRTU had already had a positive, inspiring meeting with the Prime Minister since developers who were members of the GRTU cared for the environment and wanted to respect policies.
However, there should be a transition period when policies were changed so that applications being considered under old policies would not have to be reconsidered under new ones.