George Camilleri

Times of Malta, 8 April 2008, by Mark Micallef – A report laying down a blueprint for environmental reform is calling for a clear “firewall” to be built between the government of the day and Mepa in a bid to restore the credibility of this all-important environmental regulator. The document, presented yesterday to the Prime Minister by the Today Public Policy...

Times of Malta editorial, 19 April 2008 – The independent public policy think-tank, The Today Public Policy Institute, on Thursday published its first report on The Environmental Deficit: The Reform Of Mepa And The Other Regulatory Authorities. At first reading this is a comprehensive, wide-ranging and radical report on an issue that became a prime electoral issue in the general...

Times of Malta, 4th March 2008 – The Malta Chamber of Planners said it felt distraught by the DCC’s decision to approve a supermarket in Safi last November, in utter disregard of all planning policies. The Chamber said it sees the decision as a mockery of the planning profession. Through their decisions and feeble excuses, Mepa is systematically committing more and...

Times of Malta, 13th March 2008, by Mark Micallef – The Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s decision-making process has been temporarily shut down by the Prime Minister as he prepares to take on the reform he promised before the election. The government said all of Mepa’s public board meetings and those of the Development Control Commissions were “suspended until further notice”...

Times of Malta, 3rd March 2008 – The Malta Chamber of Planners said this morning that the permit issued for the Safi supermarket could be withdrawn under existing legislation. The granting of the permit was strongly criticized by the Mepa auditor last week and Development Control Commission A subsequently resigned.The Chamber said that, inexplicably, the DCC’s justification for the permit was...

Times of Malta, Friday, 29th February 2008, by Mark Micallef – The Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of all the board members of the Development Control Commission A in the wake of a Mepa audit report describing their clearance of a supermarket in Safi on land outside development zone as a “gross irregularity”. The board submitted its resignation on Thursday...

Times of Malta, 28th February 2008 – The Environment Ministry this evening referred to the report by the Mepa auditor who found that the granting of a permit for a Safi supermarket was “a gross irregularity”. The ministry noted that the auditor had remarked that:“The Mepa is advised to propose an amendment to the Development Planning Act to allow for the...

Times of Malta, 28th Feb 2008, by Matthew Xuereb and Mark Micallef – The entire board of the Development Control Commission (A) resigned yesterday shortly after the release of a report describing its decision to approve a supermarket in Safi on land outside development zone as “gross irregularity”. The verdict was given by Mepa’s audit officer Joe Falzon following a complaint...

Times of Malta, 31st January 2008, by Vanessa Macdonald– From wine launches at Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna’s headquarters in Zabbar to sponsored art exhibitions at the Museum of Archaeology, there are more ways than ever for companies to support heritage sites. Over the past years, a number of sites have been entrusted to non-governmental organisations who can hire them out for corporate...