Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1181922
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Tens if not hundreds of cases have been approved by the authority. Some of these applications were granted permits for the erection of residences on sites which merely consisted of founda- tions of previous buildings," the company spokesperson said. "In our case we believed that the building that still exists on site merited resto- ration and made a request to add extensions to it. We also agreed to amend the plans and further reduce the ex- tension, which extension is limited to additions attached to and linked to the current building." The company, however, claims the PA had gone to lengths to put the Portelli project under extensive scru- tiny, by sending case officers to make their submissions at the sitting of the PA's plan- ning commission, "some- thing the authority has not done in any case over the last six years. The case was also requested to be undelegated and heard before the plan- ning board." "We never demanded any favours from the Authority. Yet we would never accept to be treated differently from others. The Authority must ensure that its policies are clear in their application and are applied in an indiscrimi- nate manner. Having said that, we are taking the deci- sion to voluntarily renounce this permit with immediate effect." In a reaction, independent candidate Arnold Cassola said that the Planning Au- thority was duty bound to revoke the permit. "If the PA does not revoke it, the per- mit remains legally valid. So please, next Monday, the first thing the Planning Author- ity should do is revoking the permit." A PA permit can be with- drawn before it is approved. In such a case the developer can choose not to use it but it remains valid for five years if not challenged in appeal or revoked. Land may even be sold with permit on it. In an earlier comment yes- terday by the Qala local council, mayor Paul Buttigieg indicated his council would be a party to the appeal on the decision. "We are voicing our shock and vociferous ob- jection to the PA's decision. The site in question is one of high landscape value and of great ecological and rural value." 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS Labour's uneasy pact rankles MATTHEW VELLA THERE is no easy way to specu- late over two unexpected de- velopments, both relating to Malta's contentious planning regime. The first was the resignation of the Planning Authority's execu- tive chairman Johann Buttgieg, believed to have had frigid rela- tions with the transport and in- frastructure minister Ian Borg. The second was Gozo develop- er Joseph Portelli's (pictured) decision to renounce a permit from the PA board – largely thanks to its government ap- pointees. Portelli yesterday took aim at the PA, claiming it had placed his application to turn a coun- tryside ruin into a villa under excessive scrutiny. It was an in- direct reference to Buttigieg, the latter having previously claimed that Portelli, and some of his business associates, view him with "antagonism". Buttigieg last week said he will resign, but asked to be placed at the helm of either the tourism authority or Mater Dei hospital, both under the purview of two ministers vying to be Labour leaders one day. It is clear he is passing into somebody else's slipstream. Portelli's fortunes on the other hand do not in- clude just development, but also the recruitment of foreign workers on Malta's expansive roadworks, which fall under Ian Borg. Clearly the din of outrage at the PA's vote on the Qala pro- ject, also opposed by the La- bour-led local council, was too loud to ignore. Former Labour leader and MEP Alfred Sant demanded the PA issues a public and de- tailed explanation on its "risky decision" when it was recom- mended not to issue the permit. "The PA should properly list the reasons that led to the decision, given that there was dubious evidence for the development of the site. If this explanation is not convincing, it is no wonder that one gets suspicious over how ju- diciously the PA carries out its duties." News of Portelli stepping back brought with it a new condem- nation, with Sant calling on Elizabeth Ellul, the chairman of the PA's planning commission, to step down over an alleged conflict of interet. "The tactic on environmental destruction is clear: get your foot in the door to force it open, then stuff your knee and finally open it wide open," he said of Malta's ma- ligned planning regime. "Those who are expected to defend us from this flood cannot look like they are benefiting from it." Another Sant ally, former Labour secretary-general Ja- son Micallef, also piped up. "Disgraceful. Shameless. This government and the absolute majority of its electors do not deserve this. This mess should be stopped before it is too late. Labour should have the inter- nal means of bringing to the government's attention such strange decisions." So who is Joseph Portelli, any- way? Before Labour was elected to power in 2013, little was known of the Gozitan businessman be- hind the Zaha Hadid-designed, 32-storey Mercury high-rise in Paceville, even though he had been a successful developer on the sister island. Yet over the past six years, the realtor has grown into one of Malta's foremost developers, whose footprint can be wit- nessed in the various, bold state- ments that carry his signature. In the quaint hamlet of Mensija, Portelli wants a six-storey lux- ury apartment block that will effectively kill the streetscape. Behind the Intercontinental Hotel on St George's Road, just a stone's throw away from Mer- cury House, he plans a 15-storey hotel for 50 studio apartments; in Mellieha, a nine-storey resi- dential complex; and he brings together investors in a reported €90 million offer for Jerma ho- tel site and also fronts a Maltese group recruiting Turkish work- ers for the island's infrastruc- tural reconstruction. Earlier this week, Portelli be- came just the latest beneficiary of the ill-thought out rules the Planning Authority devised in 2014, which allows landowners like him to turn old, derelict, countryside ruins on land out- side development zones, into larger villas. Those rules short- circuited previous rules banning construction outside the build- ing zones, by allowing landown- ers to 'prove' that the ruins once provided someone a domicile – usually with an old telephone book entry or historical refer- ence that it was once lived in. The Planning Authority ap- proved a controversial permit to redevelop a 31sq.m countryside ruin into a 114sq.m villa and a swimming pool on the pristine Qala coast, on land belonging to Portelli, despite objections from the Labour-led Qala lo- cal council and the Environ- ment and Resources Authority. Even the PA's own directorate recommended refusal. Portelli carried the day, thanks to all Labour government-appointed members on the PA board vot- ing in favour, and also with the assistance of lawyer and former PA chief executive officer Ian Stafrace, acting on his behalf. "A doer from day one," Portelli says of himself on his company website. A self-made business- man who did not look back af- ter his first house-flip. Earlier this year, he reported that his yet unbuilt Mercury House al- ready had 92% of its prospec- tive apartments placed under promise-of-sale agreements. With 260 apartments to be con- structed in the tower, as at end- 2018 almost all of these units had been prospected to be sold by preliminary agreements, in- cluding Malta and international buyers – some of whom had committed to buy entire floors – for at least €32 million. Today he is sub-letting the former Nationalist minister and European commissioner John Dalli's offices in Portomaso, and even employs his daughter Claire Gauci Borda, who han- dles finances for him. But added in this mix of suc- cess, is a curious and unfriendly exchange with the outgoing PA boss. Johann Buttigieg had claimed Portelli and two de- velopers of his Mellieha hotel project, Daniel Refalo and Mark Agius, had shown "antagonism" towards him, leading him to ab- stain from the PA vote on the hotel project over a conflict of interest "in view of allegations made towards him by the ap- plicant". "There was antagonism against me personally from one of the developers involved in the project," Buttigieg had said, probably emanating from his close friendship to hotelier Adrian Buttigieg, the owner of the neighbouring La Salita and Maritim hotels in Mellieha. Jo- hann Buttigieg's wife had in the past been a business partner of Adrian Buttigieg, who also hap- pens to be godfather to one of their sons. Yet curiously, Portelli and Adrian Buttigieg enjoyed a busi- ness relationship of sorts. Just after August 2018, Portelli – who was then the sole owner of Mercury House's bond fi- nance company – had issued Adrian Buttigieg with 50% of share capital. But only a few months later, Portelli and Butti- gieg agreed the latter would no longer be involved in the pro- ject, and by December Portelli was once again the sole owner of Mercury Projects Finance. Johann Buttigieg has always denied having business interests with Adrian Buttigieg. How far Portelli's influence has grown inside the inner cir- cle of Labour's government is yet to be established. Some cracks were, however, visible this week, and all came straight out of the shaky edifice that is the Planning Authority. The dilapidated ruins at Qala Old guard's disgust over Qala a sign of unease on Labour's pact with big business