Updated | One-year extension granted for expired permits

Permits issued after August 2006 have been extended automatically until March 2014, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Michael Farrugia said at the Mepa offices, Floriana, this morning.

This is a stop-gap measure being introduced in order to aid people who may have found themselves unable - financially or otherwise - to carry out their development within the stipulated five-year limit.

Farrugia said this would help save developers unnecessary expenses and bureaucracy and to help them focus on carrying out the work.

"Unfinished and derelict buildings are of no benefit to the country," he said.

The measure was also in place as a temporary solution until the Mepa reform takes place next year. Farrugia added that if the split between the environment and planning departments of Mepa did not happen by 2014, then another extension would be considered.

Farrugia said 265 permits issued between 2006 and 2008 would be affected by this decision.

The extension realises a pledge made by the government prior to the election.

FAA concerned about renewal of abusive permits

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar have issued a statement expressing concern about the automatic renewal of abusive permits where the original permit was granted on wrongful application of policy.

"Following on Mepa's misguided new policy to allow hotels to build an additional two floors, and the government's encouragement of land reclamation, it seems clear that this government is determined to fulfill all pre-election promises to the development sector, while ignoring its obligation to protect public health," FAA said.

It also said the news of permit extensions was "flying in the face of warnings from the IMF and the EU that Maltese banks are already over-dependent on the construction sector."

Promoting the interests of one sector at the cost of the nation's long-term economic, social and environmental interest is short-sighted and ultimately damaging, it said.

"The news that expired planning permits issued after August 2006 have automatically been extended until March next year, comes at a time when most towns and villages in Malta are saturated by over-development which is undermining residents' health by increasing the rate of pollution and depriving residents of light and air."