The Parliamentary Secretary responsible for public lands, Michael Falzon, this evening agreed with Alternattiva representative Carmel Cacopardo that an agreement on the Armier boathouses should not be such as to reward those who abused.

He said on TimesTalk that the government remained committed to agreement on the boathouses. Two meetings had been held with the boathouse tenants, he said.

“Nothing has been ruled out,” he insisted.

For a start, he said, the government was taking action, through the installation of electricity metres, to ensure that the government  was paid for all electricity used by these people. This, he said, did not mean sanctioning.

“The government is not moving towards sanctioning,” he insisted. 

He pointed out that 400 electricity meters were installed over the years and this government was providing temporary meters to other boathouses and replacing the old meters amid reports of theft of electricity.  

Mr Cacopardo reacted that people who built illegally elsewhere were not given temporary meters but were taken to court. “There are two laws here, one for Armier and one for the rest of the country,” he complained.

Dr Falzon said this did not mean that anybody caught stealing would not be prosecuted.

Early in the programme Dr Falzon said it needed to be made clear that even if some people had been occupying government land for several years, there was no prescription over theft of government land.

He also pointed out that although some people may have title over land in Armier, building a boathouse was very different to having title over the same land for agricultural use.

Nationalist MP Ryan Callus said he wished more could have been done in the past but now one needed to look to the future with a sense of equity and justice for those who had not stolen government land.  Mr Callus said the PN was against granting a smart meter to those who had illegally built a boathouse and never had an electricity meter. There should be a holistic approach to the issue.

Asked what this approach should be, Mr Callus said the solution should be based on recognition of those who had rights on the site; respect for the common good by restoration of public land to the public and, if there was agreement to demolish, rebuilding according to development rules. Mr Callus said he was not defending what the former government did or did not do in the past but was looking at the future.

Carmel Caccopardo said the way for the future had to be such that it did not reward those who had abused. He insisted the major political parties should publish agreements reached with those who had boathouses.  He also reiterated AD’s position that all illegal boathouses should be demolished, once they were built abusively.