Eighty-four applicants for a grant to help restore their balconies were given a letter of intent by the Malta Environment & Planning Authority.

The applicants are residents from Siggiewi, Zejtun and Rabat (Gozo) and three owners of scheduled properties. Mepa allocated Lm40,000 for the Balconies Scheme, an incentive which it pioneered in 1996 to help restore timber balconies.

So far, the scheme has helped over 300 applicants restore their balconies by allocating over Lm150,000 since the inception of the scheme. This scheme later inspired other government agencies to follow suit.

In 1996 the first scheme was launched in the Three Cities and the Lm15,000 allocated then was taken up by 43 applicants. Subsequently Mepa extended schemes over Kalkara, Valletta, Floriana, to all clubs and NGOs and, in this latest venture, to Siggiewi, Zejtun and Rabat (Gozo) and to owners of scheduled properties.

Furthering the effort to remove the eyesores caused by air-conditioning units fixed onto facades of houses, Mepa stipulated that the irregularity had to be removed and an alternative site for the unit found. The Balconies Scheme works through the submission of an application and the beneficiaries receive up to Lm600 of the expense against receipts.