The decision announced yesterday by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to take a reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority under his wing had been made only after extensive discussions with Rural Affairs and Environment Minister George Pullicino, Dr Gonzi confirmed yesterday evening.

The announcement that a future Nationalist government would conduct a sweeping reform at MEPA had been announced at a press conference yesterday morning at Maghtab, where Dr Gonzi laid out its environmental package to be included in the party’s electoral manifesto.

The announcement had been quickly interpreted by the opposition media as a sign of lack of faith in Mr Pullicino.

Speaking yesterday evening at a dialogue meeting in Zejtun, Dr Gonzi clarified the issue had been thrashed out at length with Mr Pullicino, who had been in agreement with the proposal.

The aim of the reform exercise, Dr Gonzi said, was to implement practices at the authority fostering greater transparency, accountability and consistency in its decisions, while at the same time rendering its enforcement capacity more robust.

The initiative, he said, would be undertaken in the prime minister’s capacity as head of the National Commission for Sustainable Development.

The onus of overseeing MEPA and such a wide-ranging reform process, Dr Gonzi said yesterday evening, should not be handled by any single minister, as the authority’s extremely wide remit touches upon all ministerial portfolios.

“If given the privilege to lead the country for the next five years, I will do at MEPA what I did with the finance ministry over the last legislature,” Dr Gonzi told the assembled crowd, which responded with thunderous applause.

Dr Gonzi spent much of yesterday’s dialogue meeting, hosted by Pierre Portelli, going over the environmental package announced earlier in the morning.

“If I had heeded the Malta Labour Party’s advice five years ago, Maghtab would today be some 11 storeys higher than it is today, and would never have been closed down,” Dr Gonzi remarked.

Now four years after EU membership, he added, several millions of euros have been put at Malta’s disposal, which Mr Pullicino managed to use in the most effective manner possible.

A total of e300 million in EU funding is to be put toward the environment alone up to 2013, Dr Gonzi observed – an amount comparable to that which is being invested in the SmartCity project.

Dr Gonzi asked the crowd how the total of e855 million for the next EU financing period compared with what Labour had estimated at just Lm1.5 million.

The environment, he said, would be at the centre of a future PN government’s attention.

“What the country needs is sensible proposals,” Dr Gonzi said. “Yesterday I heard a new one – that Labour’s proposal to halve the surcharge does not include shops or businesses. The country does not need this kind of advice, which is all we have heard from them time after time one after another.”

Dr Gonzi also discussed the contents of the environmental package announced earlier in the day.

In short, the measures include the government’s ongoing bids to set up an offshore wind farm, offering higher prices for energy purchased from photovoltaic cell systems, initiatives to increase the use of environmentally-friendly products – including the free distribution of five energy-saving light bulbs per year for two years – and a change in the vehicle registration system to a polluter pays principle.

The PN’s proposals would also see Gozo becoming an eco-island – a model for sustainable development and environmental protection through the creation of alternative energies, waste management schemes, air and water pollution controls and a thrust toward the further cultivation of organic farming practices.

The initiative, Dr Gonzi said, would start off at one village as a pilot project, after which it would be slowly spread across the island.