Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar welcomes the new proposals to amend the DPA act, hopefully resulting in a new chapter for MEPA’s up till now dysfunctional and powerless enforcement arm.

The new scheme will entail monitoring of any ODZ constructions through detailed and continuously updated aerial photography of the islands, a strategy already proposed by Minister George Pullicino last year in Cabinet but which did not have sufficient backing from MPs at that time. FAA therefore cannot fail to be pleased at this significant change of heart at Cabinet level last week when the scheme was finally given the green light.

This strategy will see swifter execution of enforcement orders by MEPA, a 10-fold increase in fines to nearly EUR23,000 for any illegal development and an Appeals Board specifically set up for pre-May enforcement orders. All law-abiding citizens will certainly welcome these amendments.

Now that the issue of illegal developments is being addressed, FAA calls for a similar review of the approval procedures for major projects being planned Out of Development Zone, especially the new EIA amendments which make it easier to build such structures legally in what little is left of our countryside or unbuilt shoreline.