Planning Authority has lost all credibility with the public – Graffitti

Moviment Graffitti has expressed its amusement at the PA CEO Johann Buttigieg’s defence of his decision to fly board member Jacqueline Gili down on a private jet for last Thursday’s vote on the controversial City Centre project.

In comments to the media, Buttigieg said his decision was taken “with good intentions”.

“We wonder, however, how it is possible that Buttigieg thinks that anyone in his right sense would believe his claims,” Graffitti said.

The PA Board approved a permit for the 38-storey development last week by 10 votes to four.

 Following the meeting, it was revealed that Gili had been flown in on the same morning as the meeting. Gili had been absent from 29 meetings in 2017, and voted in favour of the proposed development.  

“It is laughable, to say the least, to have the PA Executive Chairman saying that this was done with good intentions, when at the same time, the Chairman of the Board of the same Authority Vince Cassar declared that he disagreed with the decision,” Graffitti said.

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Cassar said it was “the responsibility of all board members to attend meetings and that there was no necessity to ensure that all members were present for this particular vote”.

Graffitti said that Buttigieg’s claims that the decision was taken to avoid the criticism the PA Had faced in 2016 over the Townsquare project was also “rubbish”.

“The criticism was made because there wasn’t a representative from ERA, the entity which is supposed to represent the interests of the environment, not because there was a missing member of the Board.”

The fact that many board members, particularly government representatives, like Gili, were regularly absent from such meetings. One government representative in particular was absent for 50 decisions in 2017.  

“No amount of ‘good intentions’ claims by Buttigieg will every convince the public that the PA has not gone out of its way to accommodate the DB Group,” the NGO insisted.

“What is so disturbing about this is why the PA went to such lengths to make sure that everyone from the Board was present. Why such zeal in having all the Board members present for this particular vote remains a mystery to the general public.”

Graffitti said that given further questions that have arisen around the case regarding the potential conflicts of interest of other board members like MP Clayton Bartolo and Matthew Pace, one could say that “the PA has lost all its credibility”.

“Responsibility must be shouldered.”  

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