Environment Minister Leo Brincat did not answer questions as to whether the Environment Authority will receive funding equal to the Planning Authority following the Mepa de-merger.
Minister Brincat did, however, ensure that it would have more funding than the current environmental directorate. “It will be a fully-fledged Authority with its own directorates and directors”. Again asked whether it would have equal funding to the Planning Authority he said – “all that I can assure you at this point in time is that it will definitely have more logistical and human resources than it has today. Over the years for various reasons there has been a drain of good people. Some have left due to demotivation, others came across better private sector opportunities”. He explained that his main concern is the vacuum this brain drain has left.
“With our EU commitments, national obligations and the EU Presidency around the corner, we are strongly committed to strengthen our act through human resources and logistics as much as possible.
Although the de-merger has not yet occurred we are not sitting back and waiting for things to happen. Logistically we are doing things which we should have done over the past decade, such as improving the infrastructure at Hexagon house, ensuring they have modern lifts and improving equipment, beefing up their IT system etc”. The Minister explained that if government waited until the legislative process to pass through Parliament to begin doing these things, then it would waste around three or four months on logistics rather than hitting the ground running.
Speaking with this newsroom, leading environmentalist Petra Caruana Dingli had a few things to say about the new Environment Authority’s funding. “The duties of the Environment Directorate are wide, with EU and international obligations as well as national requirements which need substantial funding. This includes monitoring, enforcement, permitting, studies and policies. It is responsible for air quality, waste, nature parks, marine and fresh water, noise, environmental impact assessments, and environmental permits for industry. Obviously this requires trained and professional staff and administrative resources”.
“The proposed legislation states that the Environment Authority will meet its expenditure out of revenue, but I do not think it is likely that it will engender enough revenue from its own fees and permitting to meet its obligations, so it would be interesting to know where this revenue will come from”.
She explained that it also depends on whether any functions, and related revenue of the Malta Resources Authority, which regulates energy, water and stone, will be incorporated in the new Environment Authority. “The original de-merger proposal of 2014 referred to the ‘Environment & Resources Authority’ however it is unclear how the MRA is now involved in the demerger, if at all”.
Asked how much it would cost for the Environment Authority to bring a case before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, Minister Brincat said that these fees have not yet been determined. “We must not only look at the cost for the environmental authority, but also the cost for the public and NGOs. They should have fees that are affordable. Although the creation of the Tribunal is a positive one, I would like to see it being used as a last resort. Ideally we should have good decisions being taken”.
The bills regarding the Mepa de-merger have already passed through the second reading in Parliament, which caused quite an uproar by the PN who wanted to wait until the consultation process ended before debating the laws in Parliament. Government however chose to decline this request, arguing that the real debate occurs within the committee stage, where each and every article is scrutinised.