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4 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 DECEMBER 2013 Portomaso decision: MEPA considers appeal JAMES DEBONO THE Malta Environment and Planning Authority is not excluding presenting an appeal against the decision of MEPA's own review tribunal which revoked its 2012 decision not to issue a permit for 46 new villas at Portomaso. In a judicial protest presented on 22 November, Portomaso residents pointed out that MEPA was dutybound to appeal against the sentence issued by the Appeals' Tribunal. "We have indications that MEPA is not appealing against the decision even if MEPA normally exercises this right in similar circumstances," the residents said. But at this stage MEPA remains non-committal on whether it would be defending its 2012 decision in a court of law. "With the timeframe for lodging an appeal in the court of laws still open, the Authority is still assess- ing whether there is any basis for an appeal against the Tribunal's decision." The MEPA board had turned down the controversial extension to Portomaso on 26 April 2012, after chairman Austin Walker used his casting vote. The board members had been tied with six votes in favour and six against, after a four-hour debate held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. The new appeals aboard that decided to overturn the MEPA board decision is composed of Labour candidate and lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace, architect and Freeport chairman Robert Sarsero, and MEPA official Martin Saliba. At both stages, the main bone of contention was a clause in the previous Portomaso permit of 1996, which stated that no further extension or development could be carried out in the area. However, the legal representatives and architects of George Fenech's Artist's impression of the Portomaso project Tumas Group, who want to develop the land, argued that the local plan approved 10 years later included this particular site as suitable for development. On his part, MEPA appeals lawyer Anthony De Gaetano insisted that the condition imposed on the original permit was binding because the original permit viewed the development of the Portomaso complex in a holistic manner. "This clearly meant that the Authority had ruled out any further extensions from the start and this formed part of the principle of the development." De Gaetano also argued that al- though the illegalities – namely, the illegal construction of boathouses at the entrance of marina and the irregular construction of a clubhouse – may not be on the same location of the proposed development, they form part of the Portomaso complex and fall within the total control of the applicant. "Hence the authority was correct to refuse the application on the basis of the illegalities on site." According to law, MEPA cannot issue a permit on a site which includes illegalities which have not yet been sanctioned. In this case, the illegalities are still present on the site. On their part, the developer's law- yers argued that the applicant has a pending planning application to sanction these illegalities presented in 1999. The developers argued that the enforcement covered another site of Portomaso. The new appeals board has effectively revoked the 2012 decision and ordered MEPA to issue the controversial permit within 30 days. The Tumas Group also forms part of Gem Holdings, a joint venture with the Gasan Group, which acts as the Maltese partner in the Electrogas consortium that will construct Malta's new 200MW LNG-powered power plant. Polidano withdraws MEPA injunction MEPA expected to proceed on 'programme of works' to have construction developer remove illegalities at Hal Farrug site CHRIS MANGION A request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction filed by Polidano Bros Ltd against MEPA last Thursday calling for the cessation of direct action at the company's Hal Farrug site was withdrawn today. Mr Justice Silvio Meli temporarily upheld the warrant and stopped the MEPA action in its tracks. The judge had also ordered Polidano Bros Ltd not to carry further development works at the Montekristo Estate, where the action was to be carried out, prior to the court deciding on the warrant. Since 1996, MEPA has issued various and repeated enforcement notices over 64,000 square metres of Polidano's developed site in Hal Farrug. Last September the authority proceeded to take legal action in which Polidano incurred over €20,000 in daily fines for breaching the enforcement notices. On Friday last week, Polidano gave MEPA reason to believe he would withdraw the request after MEPA said it would "not budge" from its position against the illegalities committed by Polidano Bros Ltd. MEPA said that if Polidano were to withdraw the prohibitory injunction, then he would have to present MEPA with "a The illegally built 'De Redin Tower' programme" detailing the number of illegalities on his site, how he plans on removing them and the timeframe in which he would be removing them. Before Thursday evening's direct action, MEPA and Polidano Bros had been engaged in talks for over six months, in the hope of the construction magnates to regularise themselves according to MEPA policies. On the Hal Farrug site alone, which spans over 300,000 square metres, Polidano Bros Ltd has 14 pending enforcement notices. The operation was meant to cover 64,000 square metres, which included the pulling down of the so-called 'De Redin Tower'. The first enforcement notice on the tract of land owned by Polidano Bros was issued in 1996, when all the area was meant to be ODZ (outside development zone). Since then, the construction magnates continued to develop despite numerous enforcement notices issued. At the same time permits for structures were also issued. Now, according to MEPA chief Johann Buttigieg, all structures developed post2010 are illegal. "If discussion resume, the company must comply with the law… If need be, we will take further action, Moreover, they must restore the valleys which have used as a dumping area," he said. But Buttigieg also said that MEPA will consider "acceptable development in ODZ" and that there were guidelines to determine such decisions. "However I don't think a four-storey building forms part of these guidelines," Buttigieg said, referring to the De Redin tower. Over the years, the Polidano brothers also accumulated over €20,000 in daily fines. Buttigieg described MEPA's action as a sign that MEPA had to take the bull by horns on planning antagonists.

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