Twenty months of dialogue, meetings and widespread discussion have produced the draft law that will see a massive reorganisation of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. The Bill will soon be discussed in Parliament, with a probability that it will become law in the first half of May, at the latest.

Before the last election, on the first day of the election campaign, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had said that, should he be re-elected, he would take over responsibility of Mepa. Re-elected he was, and true to his word, Dr Gonzi’s new portfolio included the environment.

One of his first public appearances after the March 2008 election was a visit to the Mepa offices, signaling the start of the reform process the Nationalist Party had spoken about before the election. It was clear that the new government wanted to express its commitment to revamp and reorganise an authority that had grown too big for its boots, and whose actions and decisions led to so much controversy.

The Prime Minister was at the forefront of several meetings held with all stakeholders in the drawing up of the reform. Then, quite unexpectedly, last summer he chose to delegate the last part of the preparations to parliamentary secretary Mario de Marco.

Some questioned the idea to have Dr de Marco, at the time heavily involved in trying to keep the tourist industry in shape in spite of the international situation, being given the time-consuming task to come up with the final product. But Dr de Marco has delivered, and in good time too.

During last Thursday’s press conference, Dr Gonzi made a great emphasis on the need for development to continue but at the same time for the environment to be protected.

The reform, as presented, is based on four crucial components – consistency, efficiency, accountability and enforcement. All are interlinked with each other, and if one of the four wheels had to malfunction, then the whole Mepa vehicle will collapse.

What is being proposed is a list of changes that need to be made within the structure of the authority, and the way it deals with the public. Mepa is perceived as not being a model of what an organisation should be, and the general thinking is that it is weak with the strong and strong with the weak.

This reform is specifically intended to change all this. The provisions that are being suggested go a long way in giving the authority a new form while at the same time ensuring that the balance that is needed – between development and the protection of the environment – is found.

Development cannot be stopped, but the environment needs to be safeguarded too. And this is where the four “wheels” come in. Unless Mepa is capable of being consistent in its decisions, efficient in the way it deals with the many applications it receives, accountable in the explanation of why it decided in such and such a way and manages to enforce its decisions, the exercise would have been futile.

And this is where Mepa, as an authority and as its employees who are paid to do a job, has to rise to the occasion. The government has heeded calls for the authority to be given a new lease of life and it has carried out its task.

Once the Bill becomes law, it will then be up to the authority and the people who represent it to understand the changes and fulfil their responsibilities well.