A Mepa spokesperson yesterday denied the authority was unnecessarily delaying the permit for the Barrakka lift project

He was replying to newspaper reports that Minister Austin Gatt was outraged at the delay in giving government the necessary permit to install the Barrakka lift.

What Dr Gatt said on Friday is simply not the case, the spokesman said. Mepa is not sitting on the application or rejecting it.

He explained that the application for a project in a very sensitive place – in the middle of the bastions – needed to be given all due consideration in view of its size and the aesthetics.

The application is for three lifts and not one – to accommodate the large flow of tourists that will use it. One lift would certainly not be enough.

The government changed one of the designs, possibly because it was deemed too costly.

Mepa is working with the Superintendent of Fortifications and the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage – both are bodies appointed by the government itself – and both are in agreement that as far as the principle of transport is concerned, the lift is needed.

They do however have concerns about the design, which resembles a spaceship, and the sheer size of the lift application.

“Mepa is working with both to address these concerns so we are going back and forth with the applicants to strike the desired balance. We are not just sitting on the applications, we are ensuring that the opinions of the government-appointed bodies are being respected,” the spokesman said.