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MEPA proves powerless over permits
Delimara Power Station extension built before IPCC permits issued, Tonio Fenech dismisses wrong-doing.
28 August 2011, 12:00am
Julia Farrugia
Julia Farrugia
1 min read
Weekly newspaper Illum reports how Environmentalist and former professor at the Universityof Malta Edward Malliahit out at how the Delimara Power Station extension built before IPCC permits were issued
Mallia said that, as it did when faced with problems dealing with emissions of black dust from the power station, Enemalta had chosen to ignore whatever MEPA said.
He said that that is why in this case, and many other cases, where MEPA needs to show its mettle when issuing permits, it is often however often proves powerless.
Mallia questioned when Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, the man responsible for Enemalta, will take action.
Illum reports how Fenech, confronted with Mallia’s statements, defended Enemalta’s decision to ignore what MEPA said and went as far as to argue that nothing wrong took place.
Julia Farrugia is a former editor of Illum newspaper.
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Meanwhile, we could recently read in Malta today: "MEPA has seen its expense on salaries increase by €103,163 every four weeks. This represents a 13% increase in MEPA’s expenditure during the past two years."
(103163*113)/13 = EUR 896724 every 4 weeks = 11.6 million a year i salaries in MEPA. At least the drydocks (another drain on the country's coffers) used to occasionally generate some foreign currency income. Not so with MEPA. That is purely money for the blue-eyed boys with no apparent benefits for the country.
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We’ve come to a point where MEPA can’t be reformed.
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MEPA’s decisions don’t keep to its own policies; it is losing millions and its financials are getting worse with each passing month. MEPA is almost a state within a state with its own propaganda department and a super strong legal department to protect its plunders. MEPA acts with impunity and its leadership is clearly incompetent to handle the basic task of issuing permits fairly according to its own rule book at a speed which is acceptable.
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MEPA has failed in a spectacular way. Malta needs just needs to go back to the drawing board on how to regulate its planning. MEPA is just one big mess and it needs to be sorted fast!
