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2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2020 NEWS RESIDENTS, farmers and activists have written to the ministers of the environ- ment, transport and culture, requesting immediate intervention to stop the con- struction of a planned road on fields in Dingli. Moviment Graffitti said that an ur- gent request was also made to the Su- perintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Executive Council of the Planning Authority, to issue an Emergency Con- servation Order for the Late Medieval church of Santa Duminka and its sur- roundings in Dingli. "These requests follow the direct ac- tion carried out last Friday in Dingli, where Infrastructure Malta turned up with heavy machinery and no warning in its quest to build a road on private fields," the NGO said. In the letter to the ministers, Graffitti asked whether the road was necessary since it had been planed since 1998, but no action had ever been taken to build the road in questions. Now, Moviment Graffitti said there appeared to be sudden urgency, so much so that Infrastructure Malta had decided to send workers and machinery to the site without following the formal process of officially notifying all the rel- evant landowners, who will be severely impacted by these works since the road would directly cut across their arable fields. On Friday, Moviment Graffitti had halted rural road works by Infrastruc- ture Malta (IM), who they said allegedly started building a road on farmland in Daħla tas-Sienja, in Dingli without any permits. However, IM had told this paper that no development permits are required for the formation of new roads within development zones that are already in- cluded as schemed – planned – roads in the Planning Authority's local plans, as is the case for the new street between Dahla tas-Sienja and Sqaq il-MUSEUM. "Besides destroying a site of great ar- chaeological importance, the road in question would also be highly detri- mental to the livelihood of several of these farmers, who currently till the land and grow crops, and who have owned this land for many years. More- over, the water reservoirs that currently provide much-needed water to irrigate these arable fields are in jeopardy due to this development," the NGO said. Moviment Graffitti said the building of this road would create pressure for more development in the ODZ areas surrounding proposed road, as there have already been applications for resi- dences on ODZ in that exact area. Residents, farmers and activists write to ministers seeking intervention on Dingli road On Friday, Moviment Graffitti had halted rural road works by Infrastructure Malta, who they said allegedly started building a road on farmland in Dahla tas-Sienja, in Dingli without any permits MATTHEW VELLA ALTERNATTIVA Demokratika chairperson Carmel Cacopar- do has called on the Speaker of the House to release a standards investigation report that details a breach of somone in power in the award of a consultancy to former minister Konrad Mizzi. In January, Cacopardo re- quested the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life to in- vestigate the appointment of Konrad Mizzi as a consultant with the Malta Tourism Au- thority (MTA). On Monday, Cacopardo was informed that the investigation had been concluded and the fi- nal report had been submitted to Parliament's standing commit- tee on Standards in Public Life. "In particular, I asked that Jo- seph Muscat, Gavin Gulia and Johann Buttigieg be investigated in their capacity as Prime Min- ister, Chairman and CEO of the MTA respectively," he said. The report has been passed on to the Speaker of the House and will not be publicised until a committee of MPs publishes it. An investigation report which details the breach of standards of someone who has been in- vestigated is not released by the Commissioner. "Therefore, in my opinion, it seems clear that the Commis- sioner has in fact found that there are serious shortcomings in the circumstances surrounding Konrad Mizzi's appointment. As had happened when the Com- missioner concluded that Joseph Muscat had failed ethically when he accepted Petrus wine from Yorgen Fenech, the report will go to the Parliamentary commit- tee. "Earlier today I called Speaker Anglu Farrugia and asked for a copy of the report. He assured me that as soon as he has the au- thorization of the House Com- mittee he will publish the report. It is in the interests of transpar- ency that this report is published immediately." Cacopardo calls for publication of report on Konrad Mizzi consultancy Konrad Mizzi

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