The Nationalist Party today accused Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg of being “in bed with the government,” saying that his presence during meetings with the Sadeen Group on the development of a university at Zonqor Point raises questions on Mepa’s role.

Addressing a press conference at party headquarters in Pieta, the PN’s spokesman on planning Ryan Callus said that Mepa is acting more like a developer than a regulator, and it is defending the Zonqor project like it was its own.

There is no doubt that Mepa was involved in this whole issue, he said, noting that the authority had chosen the site.

He criticized Mepa’s preliminary site report on Zonqor, which was not even signed. It was condemnable that the Mepa CEO was hiding the names of those who had compiled it. The fact that the orders came from the Office of the Prime Minister by word of mouth, as confirmed by Mr Buttigieg himself this week, also confirmed that the planning authority had lost its autonomy. Mr Callus said it was unbelievable that the Mepa CEO attended meetings between the government and the Sadeen group. “Mr Buttigieg also confirmed that the Prime Minister has not told him to abandon Zonqor, which means that the area is still under threat and that Joseph Muscat still intends to build the university there.”

The fact that Mepa was first told to identify suitable sites in the South East before the requisites changed to identify a site in the entire south also raised questions, he said. “Was Mepa given more specific guidelines to start with because of issues of land ownership?”

In the meantime, Environment Shadow Minister Marthese Portelli once again requested that the heads of agreement reached by the government with the Sadeen group should be published. The contract has important details, as admitted by the group’s lawyer, which need to be made public. She said the entire civil society, and not just the PN, was calling for the publication of the agreement. “What is the Prime Minister trying to hide? Why is he refusing to publish the document?” The PL, she said, had dedicated a full chapter in its electoral manifesto on transparency but shady deals had become the order of the day.

“The Office of the Prime Minister and Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg also come into play here because the OPM told Mr Buttigieg to also keep the site election report secret. Mr Buttigieg has become subservient to the OPM.”

Education Shadow Minister Therese Comodini Cachia said the PM was also showing a complete lack of transparency in the educational aspect of the project. She said from the consultation meetings she has held with stakeholders it has emerged that “everyone is angry and disappointed” at the Prime Minster for the way he has lowered the requirements for the granting of a university licence, which could damage Malta’s reputation in the education sector. “From all that I have heard and seen I am not convinced that Sadeen have the necessary knowhow and experience in the education sector not to damage such a reputation.”

She said there were two primary concerns about the now infamous Legal Notice 150; the first is the introduction of a clause which gives the minister the discretion to grant a licence and the second is the reduction in the actual requirements needed. “Universities are required to do training, research and outreach. With this Legal Notice they will be only required to do one of these instead of all of them.”

Replying to questions she said she disagreed with Martin Scicluna, the Chairman of the National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE), who denied that the legal notice aims to help university investor. She also claimed that, after she met Mr Scicluna, he promised that the commission would be reviewing these concerns but said she has heard nothing else so far. She also argued that the supposedly independent commission cannot defend the minister’s political work.

Dr Comodini Cachia said the Prime Minister had faced a huge backlash after announcing the project yet, despite claiming that this would be an pen and transparent government, he refuses to listen to anyone.