Din L-Art Helwa said today that shifting responsibility for policy from MEPA to politicians was a grave mistake.

The proposal to transfer responsibility is a central pillar of the MEPA reform announced last Thursday by the Prime Minister.

‘While all policies must follow the environmental and development strategy set by the government’, said Din l-Art Helwa, ‘the details of planning policies should be drawn up, as well as implemented, at arms length from politicians and central government.’

Din l-Art Helwa said agreed with the proposal to maintain the current setup whereby the planning and environment directorates continued to reside within the same authority, and to harmonise the environmental and planning laws as this would provide a better governance framework and clearer allocation of responsibility.

It also welcomed the fact that the government was reconfirming its commitment towards a zero-tolerance approach to building or sanctioning in ODZ areas – however it reiterated the fact that this commitment was already made over a year ago with scant results so far.

“There has been no real progress in protecting our countryside since the last general elections,” it said.

“While it is true that MEPA has been subjected to a lot of pressure and many bad decisions have been taken, shifting MEPA’s responsibility for policy back into the hands of ministers and politicians, is a grave mistake.

“It is a step back into the past, when Din l-Art Helwa and many others campaigned in the 1980s for an independent authority to be entrusted with planning policy,” it said.