Serious mistakes in the assessment of an application by a MEPA official has confirmed the MEPA board’s poor judgement in its recent demand that MEPA employees must generate an extra Lm1 million in order to qualify for their performance bonus. This measure will result in rushed work and slipshod preparation to issue permits as quickly as possible, leaving MEPA officials unable to conduct site visits in order to determine whether permits should be granted, and relying, instead, on possibly erroneous or incomplete information.
The recent case relates to an application for replacement of a dilapidated wooden balcony in St. Vincent Street, Sliema by an aluminium one. The Case Officer justified the granting of this request by quoting two permits for another aluminium balcony and a shop front on the same façade. Investigation by FAA revealed that these additions are actually four doors away and round the corner respectively. The façade in question belongs to a virtually intact, beautifully proportioned house dating to around the early 1800s, with a lovely traditional Maltese balcony of particularly fine design but in need of restoration. Given these facts, it becomes evident that the Case Officer did not even visit the site before passing judgement. The granting of a permit to replace this balcony is particularly condemnable as both MEPA regulations and Government grants are meant to ensure the preservation of such balconies. Cases of unauthorised replacement of such balconies have also been severely penalised.
In addition to the generation of an extra Lm1,000,000, mainly from the processing of development applications and penalties on infringements, MEPA’s board is also insisting that its backlog of pending applications be brought down by about 30%. Both of these aims can only be met by processing applications much faster and approving a greater percentage of them.
Such pressure and stress will invariably lead to more mistakes and further loss of Malta’s heritage. MEPA is not a large corporation driven by profits but a regulatory authority set up to plan, implement and enforce sound development and environment policies for the Maltese islands. As such, MEPA has a special duty towards the public to ensure that applications and procedures conform to the law.
FAA questions how these employees are meant to reduce cases in such a short time-span while simultaneously dedicating the same meticulous attention required to reach correct decisions.
This places MEPA employees under great pressure; the lack of sufficient resources to carry out this work so quickly will result in more dubious verdicts and confirms that in its present form MEPA is the greatest threat to Maltese heritage since World War II.
Given that the decision to grant this permit was taken on the ground of mistaken assumptions on the part of a MEPA official, FAA asks what measures are going to be taken to reverse the permit.