Where are the Reforms?
Press Release: The Government has stalled the process on Bills 143 and 144 ahead of the elections
The government is wilfully stalling the planning laws process in a bid to drown public outcry before the upcoming elections, said Il-Kollettiv in a statement.
“Five weeks have passed since Prime Minister Robert Abela again promised to send us the amended drafts to Bills 143 and 144, yet once again nothing has been forthcoming,” said Secretary Wayne Flask.
“Our last meeting with the Planning Reform committee was held in November. Despite various public statements announcing the new drafts, we have received nothing. It is now evident that the Prime Minister is doing his best to avoid this issue from surfacing in the media again until after the election.”
Flask criticised the PM’s statements on “legal uncertainties” in planning, highlighting that this is a mere repetition of the MDA’s narrative. “We never go to court unless we have legal certainty of what we’re doing. Not a single court appeal instituted by residents has been described as frivolous; quite to the contrary, the courts are consistently deciding in our favour even after a new judge has taken over planning hearings.”
“The real anomaly lies in the decisions of the so-called independent tribunal (EPRT), which is led by Joseph Borg, a PA employee. The recent court decision regarding the Halland building in Swieqi clearly stated that the tribunal is acting in an arbitrary manner. It is obvious that no one can make an objective decision in a case against their own employer. If the MDA is complaining about delays it’s not because of residents calling for justice in planning, but because of shambolic permits issued by the PA, which go way beyond any policy, and which are consistently vetted by Borg’s puppet tribunal.”
Flask said that the two bills in question not only neutralise residents’ democratic rights, but they also seek to overturn the legal order by placing policies above the Local Plans and the Planning Act itself.
He cited Mellieha Heights as an example, where the EPRT chief declared that the appeal would not go ahead because of a sudden, unannounced amendment to the DC15 policy.
A similar case in Rabat has seen the commencement of construction works in an ODZ area, fronted by the author of Bills 143 and 144, architect Robert Musumeci, thanks to a legal notice issued in 2023.
“Whoever authored these changes abused their power to shift the goalposts in favour of developers.”
On the issue of alleged delays, Flask said that “we are not against the 9-month timeframe for the conclusion of the legal process. Delays aren’t in the residents’ interests. Besides personal attacks and wild allegations on NGOs, it is unclear what the developers want out of this reform,” said Flask.
“In addition to popular discontent at endless construction, overpopulation and traffic, these planning laws contradict the direction of the government’s much-vaunted Vision 2050. These laws are an electoral issue which will affect daily life in our towns and villages, where nobody – including those who have invested in their own property – will be protected from the developers’ overdrive.”
Il-Kollettiv stresses the need for greater focus on the issue by both media and civil society, especially in light of the various distractions that have diluted the public’s attention on these planning laws.
This statement is endorsed by the resident groups of Marsaskala, Mellieha, Qrendi, Sliema, Swatar, Valletta, Zurrieq and Zejtun.
