Joe Catania is the new Board Secretary at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa).

Mr Catania was a a law clerk at the Attorney General’s Office, from where he graduated as a Legal Procurator in 1992. Following a period of three years in private practice with an established law firm, he joined the then Planning Authority’s Legal Office in September 1995. His wide range of duties included handling all the Authority’s court registry work, representing the Planning Directorate before the Planning Appeals Board, prosecuting breaches against the Development Planning and Environment Protection Acts and giving internal advice, as well as the formulating and drafting of planning and environmental legislation. Mr. Catania occupied the post of Senior Legal Procurator within the Legal Office of Mepa prior to his appointment.

As board secretary, Mr Catania will be responsible for a broad range of functions arising from the Development Planning Act. He assumed his duties on Monday, 13 August.