Just as the MEPA CEO tried to assure the public that the controversial amnesty will not apply to abuse in Out of Development Zones (ODZ), it has come to light that MEPA had approved a concrete platform for a kiosk at Ghadira Bay, clearly an out of development zone. This is the first of only seven kiosks to be so ‘upgraded’ risking Ghadira’s Green Flag status.
The granting of this permit for a kiosk on a Natura 2000 site and Special Protected Area was publicized at the same time that the MEPA Board refused a permit for a much-needed wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda, precisely because the site is in a Special Area of Conservation, and the wind farm would have impacted the marine ecology.
The permit for the kiosk had been repeatedly refused, and the kiosk had two enforcement orders, swept away by the approved Development Notification Order. This DNO system bypasses public consultation to fast-track applications for minor works. Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and Ramblers Association condemn the fact that while previously DNOs were limited to development areas and could not be applied in countryside or urban conservation areas, this scheme has now been extended to sensitive areas with the excuse of reducing bureaucracy.
On Thursday the MEPA EPC Board presided by Mr Martin Camilleri, Perit Aaron Abela and Perit Elizabeth Ellul, broke new ground when it approved a permit for a house extension across a country lane, a permit that the Directorate had insisted should be refused. The EPC justified overturning the refusal on the grounds that this extension is linked to the residence by an underground passage. The EPC Board granted although they were aware that it will set a dangerous precedent, whereby unacceptable developments will be justified by linking domestic sites by tunnels!
Finally, a woman narrowly missed being crushed to death when an old structure collapsed under the weight of the extra storeys being built above it. While MEPA sees fit to enter into issues of whether clients have paid their architects, MEPA has always refused to enter into issues of safety, washing its hands of ensuring that residents are adequately protected in their own home, even in a proposal to add five storeys onto a decrepit two hundred year-old house.
In its drive to enrich speculators, MEPA keeps issuing permits for additional floors on top of existing buildings without the necessary studies to check the strength of foundations and load-bearing walls. At least five people have died in collapsing buildings, yet when objectors submit reports of unsafe structures to MEPA, the authority refers them to court, a costly option which is not available to all.
All this is reinforcing the public’s perception of MEPA as Malta’s most corrupt authority whose main function has become that of facilitating certain developers’ abuse, against the interests of the economy, tourism, and residents’ health.
21.02.2015
