NEWS | Wednesday, 30 April 2008

MEPA reform under spotlight during GO-Today seminar

Charlot Zahra

The reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) was debated at length during the GO-Today seminar, which was organized by MediaToday, publishers of this newspaper, at Palazzo Capua in Sliema last Friday.
Explaining the workings behind a 36-page report he penned on “The Environmental Deficit: The Reform of MEPA And Other Regulatory Authorities”, the event’s key-note speaker Martin Scicluna in his capacity as Chief Executive of the Today Public Policy Institute (TPPI) proposed a series of changes, some drastic, that would need to be adopted if MEPA is to be truly reformed. Among changes proposed, Scicluna insists that “five public officers and two members of Parliament should no longer form a part of the board. However, one public officer to represent government should be retained on it.
“The Prime Minister will select the names of the proposed executive chairman and the chairmen of the commissions. He will only appoint them after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, as already happens with such posts as the Ombudsman, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority and others.
“If there is no agreement on the candidates being proposed, the public should be given the reasons for the objections. The President of Malta will then be invited to resolve the issue,” Scicluna explained.
The remaining members of the board, including the Deputy Chairman, should be nominated from among the range of civil society bodies covering physical planning, economic development, social and community affairs, and the protection and preservation of the environment and cultural heritage. Scicluna said the nominees should be “people of known integrity and good judgement, of wide experience, living in the ‘real world,’ independent-minded and non-political.” The Prime Minister would have the power to vet and if necessary, to reject any nominees from these bodies.
The Prime Minister would then submit his choice of names to the already existing Parliamentary Standing Committee on Development Planning for scrutiny and approval.
The membership of the Commissions and the Planning Appeals Board panels should follow the same general process, with the same vetting and scrutiny process by Parliament as for the MEPA board.
“I will admit that all of this is a more laborious process than today’s selection on a ministerial whim. But in a modern and mature society is this not the kind of open selection process we should expect and demand of our politicians?” Scicluna asked.
During an open discussion that followed Scicluna’s speech, architect and former DCC board member Joanna Spiteri Staines said: “It seems that major projects get an advantage over other projects at MEPA”.
Astrid Vella, of green NGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA), suggested that case officers should be rotated every few years “so that they do not become too familiar with their domain, especially with regards to national projects.”
Harry Vassallo, Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika (AD), said that “no legal system, however perfected, will work if people do not work or politicians do not want it to work.
“It will only be after the introduction of legislation on the financing of political parties that a major spoke will come out of the works of MEPA,” he insisted.
Kamra tal-Periti (KTP) President David Felice referred to the strong presence of architects on MEPA Boards and claims made of systemic conflict of interest. “Do Board members have to be non-architects to ensure that they are beyond reproach? Could not lawyers pose the same conflict of interest? Persons involved in business? Their husbands or wives?” he asked.
One needs to understand, Felice said, why hardly any architects are interested any longer in serving on MEPA Boards. “We are informed of DCC Board members feeling embarrassed of the decisions they have to take about cases presented before them for their consideration,” he said.
Felice called on civil society to help out in the reform of MEPA. He also complained about the lack of updated Structure Plan, which has last published in 2002.
Sandro Chetcuti, President of the Contractors Section within GRTU, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, said that for the reform of MEPA to be successful, the mentality of those involved in the planning process has to change first, be it objectors, developers and architects.
“I appreciate your effort to reform MEPA, but who is going to judge whether there is a conflict of interest or not? Everybody knows one another in Malta and changing things will not be so simple,” he said.
Victor Axiaq, chairman of the Church’s environmental commission said that one of the reasons given when the Environment Production Department was merged with the Planning Authority to form MEPA was that the synergy would have been beneficial for both sides.
“There is not doubt whatsoever that the merger has not been beneficial for the half of the organization which deals with environment protection. It has remained understaffed and a lot of resources are being taken up for compliance with EU legislation on the matter,” he complained.
Axiaq explained that even the legislation on Environment Protection is an add-on to the existing Development Planning Act, which was enacted first.
Hydrologist Marco Cremona confirmed that the Environment Protection Department was understaffed and caught up with EU compliance matters. “We need a strong regulator in order to enforce environment legislation effectively. At present the environmental NGOs are doing the work of the EPD,” Cremona said.
Cremona said that the environmental regulator should not only deal with environmental matters only, but should also with the country’s natural resources, stone and water.
He therefore suggested that the Malta Resources Authority (MRA), which deals with natural resources, is merged with the EPD to have a strong regulator.
MEPA Audit Officer Joe Falzon said that judging from his experience for the past four years in the post, there was lack of political will to combat planning illegalities in Malta.
The indefatigable Falzon, who has been running the audit office on his own ever since then former Environment Minister George Pullicino failed to renew the contract of investigating officer Carmel Cacopardo at the end of March last year, said: “There is no political will for enforcement. I have pointed out the same two illegalities relentlessly in my annual reports.
“As I mentioned again a particular case in a TV interview, I received a call from the enforcement director asking me to point out where the illegality is. There has not been any feedback so far,” he said.
Falzon said there were “strong allegations of corruption” about the lack of enforcement by MEPA in respect of illegalities in major projects. “I am shocked with what I see when I go for a walk outside in the countryside. “Maybe some enforcement officers need to check their eyesight,” he said sarcastically.
Falzon complained that his office was overwhelmed with work for the past year. “I worked with a close colleague who dared criticise the chairman, and therefore the minister, so he got kicked out. Now it’s all on me and I’m not coping.
“I’m just putting files in the office without working on them. There isn’t enough space in my office for files, so I’m without an office to work in,” he lamented.
Falzon said there were a number of serious problems with ODZ developments. “Recently, the DCC justified the conversion of a livestock farm into a country villa,” he said.
Falzon said that MEPA Boards should be more “like a jury in a trial and should not take technical decisions. A lot of the members are not technically qualified… Now that I have access to the minutes, I am shocked to see what is discussed and what is decided”.
He said Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) were “very worrying” since they are always written by an expert which is chosen and paid for by the developer.
“I still have to see an EIA that does not recommend a project. A case in point was with a stone quarry located within 10 metres of a habitable area, that was deemed non-problematic after an EIA,” Falzon said.
The quality of consultation by MEPA was, “at best, poor. During meetings, only those who are most vocal carry the day. If the developer is most vocal on one day, he will win. If the objector is the most vocal the following day, he will win.”
He referred to a development application for a catering establishment, whereby the recommendation was to “‘keep the place well ventilated’. Might as well keep the door open then,” Falzon said sarcastically.
Developer Angelo Xuereb even suggested appointing Scicluna as the new Executive Chairman.
The Today Seminar saw the first public appearance of former Education Minister Louis Galea, who was not even elected to Parliament during the March 8 general elections.
Martin Scicluna’s full speech is published on page 7 of this edition.

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