The Malta Environment and Planning Authority demerger has strengthened the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the Minister responsible, Owen Bonnici, said in Parliament this afternoon.

He was discussing a motion for Parliament to approve the budgetary estimates for Heritage Malta and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage for 2017.

"In 2015, the SCH sifted and studied 1,099 applications, rising to 5,412 in 2016. This is the result of legal amendments, where we gave more strength to the SCH."

"Included in the applications which they checked on, was one where they had to contact UNESCO as it dealt with a world heritage site," he said.

The minister also said that he wants to increase the personnel and resources of the SCH, arguing that there were very only around seven people working there back in 2014, when he became the minister responsible for the sector.

PN MP Karl Gouder, in his intervention, asked for an explanation as to why Heritage Malta’s income was reduced for this year, to which Minister Bonnici said that this was due to two sites having to be closed, including the President’s Palace in Valletta due to the Presidency.