[ANALYSIS] Nailing Caqnu: Labour’s balancing act

The timing of Thursday's enforcement action against illegalities on Charles Polidano's Montekristo Estate on the eve of a national protest by environmentalists suggests that the government is intent on sending a strong message, and that despite its clear pro-development bias expressed in new planning policies, it has no strings attached to powerful construction magnates like 'iċ-Ċaqnu'.

The spectacular enforcement action against Polidano comes just three days after the same government issued a draft policy paving the way for an onslaught of medium and high-rise development in overdeveloped localities like Sliema, Gzira, St Paul's Bay and Marsaskala; and weeks after issuing a draft policy allowing new dwellings and facilities in ODZ areas, including in buffer zones to Natura 2000 sites.

The political symbolism of an action against the bête noire of the environmental lobby is surely a potent one. Ċaqnu's omnipotence came to symbolize the impotence of the previous administration, perceived as being accommodating towards the illegalities committed by the construction magnate, and culminating with enduring slogans like 'Vote Gonzi Get Ċaqnu' during environmental protests.

By hitting out at Ċaqnu while promoting policies favouring high-rise buildings and ODZ developments - which effectively placate the construction lobby among others - Labour seems to have embarked on a precarious balancing act between its pro-development inclination and the expectations of the electorate for a clampdown on illegalities.

Perhaps this fits in Muscat's frame of mind: that of accommodating big developers and the even more numerous legion of small developers and property owners through changes in the planning regime, while being strong against acts of outright banditry by developers of Polidano's ilk.

Still this path is fraught with danger. For Polidano is known not to be scared of using his workers as bargaining chips: in the 1990s he threatened to sack workers following hints that MEPA was to clamp down on his Għar Lapsi quarry in Siggiewi.

The Polidano files

Enforcement against Polidano's illegalities at Montekristo made the news this week simply because similar illegalities by the same group were tolerated for so long in the past by subsequent Nationalist governments.

It was only in September 2012 that MEPA's enforcement team carried out a direct action operation on two large sites adjacent to Polidano's Poligas compound, blocking the entrance to two illegal depots littered with scrap, vehicles and heavy machinery. The illegal dumping had been going on since at least 2004.

Yet this run-of-the-mill action against a blatant abuse assumed a highly symbolic value of rupture between the PN and the construction magnate. On its own, this action raised speculation of Polidano's change of political allegiance even if this has never been proved. 

Polidano immediately tested the waters as soon as the new Labour government was elected, by continuing illegal works at his Hal Farrug complex. MEPA officials immediately intervened a few days after the election to stop these works in the area previously sealed in September 2012. 

Judging by comments by new MEPA chief executive Johann Buttigieg, MEPA is willing to accommodate Polidano by sanctioning some of his illegal developments. Buttigieg confirmed that MEPA was holding talks with the group about the illegal development, "discussing what simply could not be tolerated and what could possibly be sanctioned".

But he said it could not accept a situation where Polidano was blatantly proceeding with illegalities while discussions were taking place on actually bending regulations to accommodate him.

This suggests that the new government is still following in the same footsteps of the previous government, by regularizing Polidano's illegal developments when it will be less disposed to tolerate cowboy tactics. 

MEPA's negotiation spirit however is contrasted with the more belligerent tone adopted by MEPA lawyer Robert Abela in a court application against Polidano's abuses. In the application Abela claimed that the Polidanos were trying to play the victim by saying that their property would be damaged by the MEPA direct action. "What they were not saying was that the property was completely illegal, abusive and an insult to citizens as it lacked all the necessary permits."

Building an empire

To see how the planning regime favored this particular construction magnate one has to simply turn back the clock to the late 1990s.

Polidano first applied for an extension of the Solemar hotel in Marfa back in 1997, but despite a clear negative recommendation by the Planning Directorate, the extension was approved. In 1998, a new application for an expansion was refused in 2000. Despite the refusal, the expansion was carried out illegally.

So in 2001, MEPA was asked to sanction the fait accompli with a €460,000 fine, a case causing wide embarrassment within MEPA itself, and creating a strong rift between the MEPA board and its own planning experts.

The only setback for Polidano in the late 1990s was the rejection of a proposal to build a cement plant in Siggiewi, following a campaign spearheaded by Nationalist mayor Nenu Aquilina and the political backing of backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

2006 was marked Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi inaugurating the new Poligas Plant in Hal Farrug on New Year's Day. MEPA had approved the plant, which produces the highly flammable acetylene gas, back in 2005 in the absence of an EIA (environmental impact assessment) despite being 200 metres away from a fireworks factory.

While an EIA had been conducted on the relocation of the Multigas plant in Kirkop, no such assessment was ever carried out for Polidano's Poligas despite its proximity to a fireworks factory.

In the same year, Polidano also regularised his Hal Farrug complex, despite numerous enforcement orders due to the sprawl of unauthorized development. His EIA simply dismissed this as a natural consequence to "the 1990s' construction boom when contractors were compelled to grow at relatively fast rates in order to be in a position to compete for tenders for large-scale projects."

The 1990s were a veritable golden age for Polidano Group, which saw a tenfold increase in turnover from 1989 to 2003, increasing from Lm4 million (€10 million) for the three-year period between 1989 and 1991 to just under Lm40 million (€98 million) between 2001 and 2003.

Also in 2005, Polidano applied on outside development zones (ODZ) to construct Lidl chain supermarkets in Luqa, Safi and Zebbug.

The Zebbug supermarket was ultimately rejected but caused scandal after MEPA deputy chairperson Catherine Galea presented the application in her capacity as a private architect. The Luqa application failed to pass the test of the MEPA auditor's scrutiny, due to flight-path safety restrictions because it was to be located within 250 metres of an airport runway. The permit was approved despite a previous refusal for a car-hire firm to build a garage in the same public safety zone.

In 2008, when the MEPA auditor's report that found the permit for the Safi supermarket had been issued irregularly, ended up being published by Alternattiva Demokratika during the elections, the entire MEPA development control commission that had approved the permit resigned en masse.

After years of collusion with Polidano, the newly-elected Nationalist administration seemed less inclined to accommodate him. In fact, permits for a Lidl supermarket in Zabbar and a residential development in Balzan were turned down by MEPA.

In September 2008, the Nationalist-led Siggiewi council moved a motion threatening to enact a bye-law prohibiting trucks carrying stone from passing through Għar Lapsi Road, which led to Polidano's largest hardstone quarry.

And the 2009 European elections also saw the PN fielding environmentalist Alan Deidun, who launched his campaign with a press conference right next to Polidano's Lapsi quarry.

Back to blue?

The decision by MEPA in September 2012 to take direct action suggested that after decades of omnipotence, Charles Polidano had fallen from political grace.

As is the case with Labour's present enforcement action, it is highly probable that the clampdown required some form of political clearance. Once a frequent target of the Labour media during Alfred Sant's tenure, Polidano seemed to have lost his bête noire status after Joseph Muscat was elected leader.

The new leader even chose to have his 2008 inauguration party at Polidano's Montekristo wine estate. And in March 2010, Labour MP and planning spokesperson Roderick Galdes became the only MEPA board member to vote in favour of Polidano's 40-apartment block and underground car park, in place of a historical townhouse and garden in Balzan's village core.

But in a clear reversal of roles, it is now the Nationalist Party that might as well reach out to Charles Polidano. The sudden appearance of the normally reclusive Charles Polidano on NET TV raises questions on the Nationalist Party's stance on this issue.

Will the PN try to exploit Polidano's blackmail, or will it back the government in confronting this rampant abuse, irrespective of the action's suspicious timing?