Peter Richards (The Sunday Times, January 16) concludes that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) is about to issue a permit for the enlargement of the Portomaso project on a protected green area and create another ecological disaster like that in Dwejra. He calls on the authority to practise what it preaches.
Firstly, it is impulsive of Mr Richards to insinuate that Mepa is about to grant planning permission for the enlargement of the Portomaso project when this planning application is still being screened to determine whether an environment impact assessment (EIA) update is required.
So, to say that Mepa is about to issue this planning permit iscompletely incorrect.
He also refers to what happened following the filming in Dwejra last October as an “ecological disaster”. A report by independent and well-respected specialists, commissioned to carry out an assessment of the impacts of the filming activities in Dwejra, clearly concluded that while there is localised rock surface damage, “the disturbance represented by the deposition of the extraneous sediment has not compromised the integrity of the terrestrial biological communities within the SAC”. While the authority does not condone what has happened in Dwejra, facts must not be twisted.
Over the past two years, thereis extensive evidence in Mepa’s favour to show that the authority has put as its top prioritythe protection of the Malteseenvironment including Outside Development Zone (ODZ) areas.
Where development is permitted, the authority is continuously promoting the belief thatthis should be benchmarked against sustainable developmentprinciples.
The numerous bold planning decisions taken by the Mepa board in favour of our environment over the past months, together with the introduction of the new Mepa legislation, which among other measures prohibits the submission of planning applications that seek to regularise illegal development in ODZ and protected areas carried out after May 2008, is proof that Mepa is practising what it preaches.