Polidano suggests withdrawal of prohibitory injunction - MEPA CEO

Construction magnate Charles Polidano has given MEPA reason to believe that he may withdraw a warrant of prohibitory injunction on the authority issued by the courts late yesterday evening.

Addressing a press conference at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's headquarters, MEPA CEO Johann Buttigieg insisted that MEPA would "not budge" from its position against the illegalities committed by the Polidano Bros Ltd.

Accompanied by his lawyer, Polidano reportedly also told Buttigieg that workers would return to work as from Monday and that all salaries for this month had been issued.

According to Buttigieg, this morning's meeting with Polidano - who was accompanied by his lawyer - was "extremely cordial".

"We made our position very clear and informed him that we would not budge on certain issues. It's up to him to decide whether to withdraw his prohibitory injunction or not. Either way, there are certain elements which MEPA is not ready to compromise on," the CEO insisted.

He added that, if Polidano were to withdraw the prohibitory injunction, then he would have to present MEPA with "a programme" detailing the number of illegalities on his site, how he plans on removing them and the timeframe.

Before Thursday evening's direct action, MEPA and Polidano Bros had been engaged in talks for over six months, in the hope of the construction magnates to regularise themselves according to MEPA policies. On the Hal Farrug site alone, which spans over 300,000 square metres, Polidano Bros Ltd has 14 pending enforcement notices.

Yesterday's operation was meant to cover 64,000 square metres, which included the pulling down of the so-called 'De Redin Tower'.

The first enforcement notice on the tract of land owned by Polidano Bros was issued in 1996, when all the area was meant to be ODZ (outside development zone). Since then, the construction magnates continued to develop despite numerous enforcement notices issued. At the same time permits for structures were also issued.

Now, according to Buttigieg, all structures developed post-2010 are illegal.

Therefore, if discussions with Polidano resume, the brothers will be asked "to comply with the law". 

"If need be, we will take further action similar to yesterday's. Moreover, they must restore the valleys which have used as a dumping area," he said.

But there are also possibilities that the discussions with Polidano Bros would involve accepting certain structures "in the containment area".

"Acceptable development in ODZ would be considered. There are guidelines which determine such decisions... however I don't think a four-storey building forms part of these guidelines," Buttigieg said, referring to the De Redin tower.

Over the years, the Polidano brothers also accumulated over €20,000 in daily fines.

"Yesterday's operation was something that had to be done. They have simply gotten out of control. We slap them with enforcement notices and they continue building. New structures continue to mushroom despite orders to take down existent ones. We had to take the bull by its horns," Buttigieg said.

The CEO also insisted it was "a coincidence" that the operation came on the eve of a planned protest by environment NGOs on MEPA's pro-development policies.

"If we had taken action next week, the criticism would have been that we were reacting to the protest. Truth is that enough was enough and after blatantly ignoring our orders, we had to take action."

Buttigieg said the operation's planning had taken 48 hours and only a restricted number of people from MEPA, the Police Force, the Armed Forces and the Works Department knew about the operation.

The plan was to turn up at the Montekristo premises at 4pm, an hour after workers at Hal Farrug finished work. The authorities feared that Polidano's workers would stage a standoff. The enforcement officers however still found the entrance blocked because the Polidanos had been tipped off.

Buttigieg confirmed that MEPA was now investigating who could have leaked the operation.

According to the director of the enforcement unit, Alex Borg, MEPA calculated it would have two hours' time to carry out the operation and pull down a number of illegally erected structures. The timeframe was calculated based on the assumption that the construction magnates' lawyer would request a warrant only once the enforcement officers arrived on site.

But thanks to the tipoff, Borg said, the Polidanos acted before.