At Lm717,000, the deficit in 2004 was lower than the Lm827,731 registered last year, even though expenses rose from Lm4.88 million to Lm5.2 million.

Most of the authority’s expenses in 2004 were related to the wages and salaries of its employees (Lm3.65 million). A staggering Lm121,141 was spent on telecommunications, Lm29,000 on advertising, nearly Lm78,000 was in respect of demolition expenses, Lm209,000 was spent on programmes, initiatives and professional fees and Lm146,000 was spent on transport. According to Mepa chairman Andrew Calleja, these losses were predicted. He added that next year’s operating deficit is expected to be about Lm400,000.

Asked how Mepa was planning to reduce its costs, director of corporate services Matthew Gatt said that the authority intended cutting down on the number of reports it will commission next year, because these were costing the authority a lot of money.

Mr Gatt said one of the authority’s major expenses was in respect of direct action carried out by the authority when, for example, it demolishes illegal buildings itself after the owners have continued to ignore its enforcement notices and other notification letters.

Understandably, this involves “a major expense”, but the figures given in the authority’s annual report published yesterday show that in the year under review – between October 2003 and September 2004 – Mepa carried out 37 direct action operations. This figure is considerably lower than the 76 and 80 direct action operations carried out in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

“You must appreciate the strain these operations cause to the authority, both in terms of human resources as well as the financial aspect,” Mr Calleja said. “The demolition of an illegal room outside the development zone can easily cost the authority Lm7,000 while clean-up operations can easily cost Lm20,000. We must then take the owner to court to recover the money spent on the operation, but it takes a very long time and sometimes we do not even get all that we have spent,” he said.

According to the annual report, Mepa received 7,553 applications during the year under review. The authority currently has a pending caseload of 3,342 cases. During the period under review, the Develop-ment Control Commission took decisions on 6,833 applications.

At present, Mepa participates in 28 European Union or internationally co-funded projects. The total value of these projects amounts to around Lm17 million. Moreover, the authority’s EU and multi-lateral affairs section coordinated the transposition of five pieces of legislation and amendments to five others.

With regard to information technology, Mepa has enhanced its website and will soon introduce SMS queries, whereby clients can use short messages to check the status of their application.

Through the Environmental Initiatives through Partnership scheme, the authority co-financed a number of environmental projects including the repair and restoration of various historic buildings, the embellishment of public gardens, the protection and restoration of archaeological sites, the management and protection of natural and rural areas and projects related to the marine environment.

Mepa’s legal office has 175 pending court cases before the Court of Appeal, 76 pending cases before the Superior Courts – including 21 new ones, and 59 pending cases before the Inferior Courts. The legal team issued 51 judicial letters and protests, 14 warrants of prohibitory injunction, seven legal notices on planning legislation and 35 on environmental legislation.

In his report, Mr Calleja spoke at length about the country’s waste problems, adding that the Maltese have to change their lifestyle. He said the three Rs – reduce, re-use and recycle – are quite well-known but they are just the beginning of the story. Other Rs, he said, include reclaim, refurbish, recover, regenerate and refuse with the last one meaning the rejection of a lifestyle that is wasteful and detrimental to the environment.

Director of planning Chris Borg said that during the year under review, Mepa continued with its work on the local plan programme. He said a draft of the South Malta Local Plan had been drawn up and is now ready for presentation to the Mepa board to be approved for public consultation.

The other plans have been subject to public consultation. The North Harbours Local Plan is the most advanced in this respect and is finally nearing completion. It is to be brought before the Mepa board in the new few months.