I have been saying for years now that there are obvious problems in The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) and the latest developments to surface this week do nothing but reinforce that.
However, we have to remember that it takes two to tango and in this case, not to be outdone, we actually have three – Mepa, former PN president Dr Victor Scerri, and his architect Robert Musumeci.
Rather than rehash what has been reported extensively over the past week, let’s just summarise. Dr Victor Scerri buys a piece of land containing a dilapidated farmhouse in Wied tal-Marga, Bahrija. The area in question is Out of Development Zone (ODZ) and is of ecological importance. So one would therefore assume that the chances of obtaining permission to build on this land would be difficult or rather impossible.
Impossible that is if you are ordinary Joe citizen. I mean let’s face it; the ordinary guy in the street would have problems changing the size of a window in an existing building in such an area. So why buy land in an area like this? Well, the area is a beauty spot and what’s more, I would assume that any land for sale in an ODZ area would be cheaper than normal for the reasons mentioned above. Therefore if the person buying the land was in a position to pull a few strings he could make a killing.
The only problem is the difficulty in obtaining a permit in such an area, so Dr Scerri calls in Mr Musumeci, who, together with his extended family used to occupy no less than six posts on different Mepa boards.
I think his methods should be a lesson for all the small guys out there trying to obtain applications passed by Mepa. The Mepa Auditor’s report describes it as “a puerile attempt at misleading Mepa”. The dilapidated farmhouse was described as an “existing dwelling” which was to be “rehabilitated”. The truth was it was a ruin, which was to be demolished and replaced with a structure almost twice the size in a different place.
So it appears that one thing you can do is supply what the Mepa Auditor described as “fraudulent information” and hope that the DCC will not bother checking. This would be seen as gross incompetence on the part of the DCC members, which is in fact one of the reasons the Auditor suggested for this application being approved. The others possible reasons were insensitivity by the DCC to the needs of the environment, the DCC trying to set policies rather than enforce them and last but not least, collusion between the applicant, directly or through third parties, with one or more members of the DCC.
The crazy thing here is that Dr Victor Scerri is considering legal action against the Mepa Auditor for what he describes as “unfounded assumptions and innuendoes”, which could badly reflect on his personal integrity. Surely if you spend nine years pushing for what, as a lawyer, you have to know is against the regulations, you have already damaged your own reputation. According to letters, which have appeared in the papers, Dr Scerri is known to be a competent lawyer. As such he would know the importance of reading the fine print, especially when it describes an old wreck as an existing dwelling. He also knows that if you sleep with dogs you wake up with fleas.
As for architect Robert Musumeci’s libel suit against Astrid Vella, what can one say. On the one hand you have an NGO volunteer who works tirelessly for the protection of her country’s environment and heritage, and on the other a supposed professional who openly supports the destruction of anything in his path so long as his client gets his application passed and he gets his fee. And this is the person who is suing Ms Vella for damaging his reputation!
Remember that in this case Robert Musumeci applied to Mepa to amend a previous permit, which had been issued in 2003. In so doing he attempted to delete the condition relating to the maximum footprint and floor area allowed. His proposal was in breach of the Structure Plan concerning Level 2 scheduled sites. It was also in breach of Structure Plan policy ARC 3 concerning areas of archaeological importance. He tried to mislead Mepa by describing a ruin as an existing dwelling. He talked of rehabilitation of the ruin when he meant demolition and he described the area as level when it was sloping. What reputation are we talking about here?
James A. Tyrrell
COUNTY ANTRIM
N. IRELAND