Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Deborah Schembri told The Malta Independent that if she had known of Mott Macdonald’s work with Mercury House earlier, she would have “stopped it at inception”.
Yesterday’s Parliamentary Environment and Development Planning Committee turned into a heated situation, with the PN committee members claiming a conflict of interest by Mott Macdonald, one of the firms that drafted the Paceville master plan, had been proven because of their previous involvement in the Mercury House project.
Mott Macdonald representatives denied having any conflict, despite admitting to having been contracted for engineering consultation works on the Mercury House project. The situation grew more tense when it was discovered that Mott Macdonald had told the Planning Authority about their prior consultancy work for the Mercury House project.
At the end of the sitting, Dr Schembri was asked by The Malta Independent what she would have done had she known of Mott Macdonald’s prior work on the Mercury House Development. She said that she would not just have stopped it due to a possible conflict of interest, but also due to what people would think when faced with such a situation. She said that the work done by Mott Macdonald will be reviewed to put people’s minds at ease, however “I am not in any way, shape or form saying there was a conflict of interest”.
“I do not want this major government project to be jeopardised by what people might think was behind it. Therefore in my opinion I would have stopped it at the inception, not because of a possible conflict of interest necessarily, but because of the perception. I come from a legal background, and it is not necessarily that justice is being done, but justice has to be seen to be done”.
“This is a major project that involves businesses and residents. I want them to be at ease and know that we have their interests at heart. This is just a draft of a master plan”.
She stressed that she only found out recently about the work done by Mott Macdonald on the Mercury House project. “While I am responsible for the Planning Authority, it is autonomous and I do not know in real time if there is something of this sort, which the PA deemed not as a conflict of interest and did not disclose”.
The representatives of both Mott Macdonald (Damien Price, Rob Ford) and Broadway Malyan (Jeff Nottage), the two organisations who drafted the plan, were grilled by the Environment Committee in Parliament yesterday.
Government willing to review works carried out by Mott MacDonald
In a statement this morning the government said it did not want the project, which is of national importance, to be overshadowed by any doubts. As such it is willing to carry out a review of the works carried out by Mott MacDonald in an effort to put people’s minds at rest.
The government said it welcomed the feedback received during yesterday’s meeting of the Environment and Planning Committee. It said the consultation exercise was being carried out with the specific aim of receiving and analysing suggestions.
What is being discussed is only a draft and a final masterplan will only be drafted once the needs of all stakeholders have been analysed.
The government said the Matt MacDonald officials clarified yesterday that the mechanical engineering studies on the Mercury House tower had been carried out by another branch of the company. The government had been unaware of the work, which was commissioned by the Zaha Hadid architectural firm.
The Planning Authority had been informed but did not feel that there was a conflict of interest. For this reason it did not inform the government.