Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/294639
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 APRIL 2014 5 News Preluna Hotel eyeing Ghar id-Dud beach JAMES DEBONO The Preluna Hotel has applied for a permit to extend its existing beach club, over 310 square metres of public land under the Fortizza at Ghar id-Dud, in Sliema. The application envisions a "beach concession", covering the existing rocky beach with limestone and replacing an existing concrete area with limestone. The area borders on the existing beach club, which includes a sun deck and a private pool and is pres- ently enclosed by a wall. In the application submitted to MEPA on 8 April, the applicant declared that the government has granted consent to the proposal, which effectively means taking over land that is already public prop- erty. The Sliema local council is al- ready objecting to another devel- opment of leisure facilities across 800 square metres of pristine rocky shoreline in Qui-Si-Sana just below the Qui-Si-Sana public garden. The development is earmarked for "leisure development" consisting of lavatories, showers, an attendant's area and rows of sun beds, which are set to cover the rocky shore- line. The application was presented by hotelier Michael Stivala on 15 March 2013 and was published in newspapers on 21 September. The application for this beach concession also states that the gov- ernment has granted its consent for the application. But a spokesperson for govern- ment insisted that in such cases the applicant is only expected to inform the government property division and confirm that the site is in government ownership, as the actual consent is only issued after MEPA issues the permit. Malta Council for Culture & the Arts Malta Council for Culture & the Arts INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING? Join us on Tuesday, 15 April at 18.00hrs at David Bruce Hall, Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta Expressions of interest will be accepted by 5 May noon Sliema hotel wants to extend its existing lido beneath Fortizza, over 310 square metres of public beach Testing the waters: bathers consider taking a dip as good weather comes early in April - the overlying Preluna lido could be extended on this public beach Opposition silent on business links between Gaffarena and Labour MP DANIEL MIZZI A week after MaltaToday revealed a business partnership between La- bour MP and government member on the MEPA board Joe Sammut and businessman Marco Gaffarena, Na- tionalist MP Ryan Callus – Sammut's counterpart on the MEPA board – has insisted that the PN's silence was not down to any association between the party and the Gaffare- nas. It's a silence that says much about politics and the strategic political loyalties of the Gaffarena family. Last week MaltaToday featured a photo of Marco Gaffarena at a political benefit for Sammut: only recently, a MEPA directorate granted the Gaffarenas a three-year permit to open their petrol pump in Qormi after it was forcefully shut down for its illegal extensions back in 2009 by MEPA. The decision was not taken by the MEPA board on which Sammut and Callus sit. But fresh from accusing govern- ment of "relegating" the environment by demerging MEPA's environment arm from its planning arm, and ac- cusing government of lacking trans- parency, shadow minister for the environment Ryan Callus has refused to comment on the relationship be- tween Gaffarena and Sammut, or the controversial permit for the J Gaff Service Station. Callus on Friday adopted a guarded approach, insisting that he was not aware of the J Gaff Service Station permit and that he would not be "is- suing further comments because the permit wasn't approved by the MEPA board." Asked to explain the PN and its media's silence on either the permit or the Labour MP's business relation- ship with a Gaffarena shareholder, Callus said: "God forbid if we would have to issue a statement on every is- sue concerning the government." Callus, elected from the sixth elec- toral district, which includes Qormi, claimed he was "not aware of" any as- sociation between the Gaffarenas and the Nationalist Party. "I am not aware whether the Gaf- farenas are in some way or another, financing the party. Neither am I aware of any links between Marco Gaffarena and party candidates," he said. Callus, also the Opposition's rep- resentative on the MEPA board, also ruled out any links between himself and the Gaffarenas. "The people who are in government and its appointees should be the ones who should shed light on the matter. Marco Gaffarena and Joseph Sam- mut must answer these questions themselves." Hinting at a possible conflict of in- terest by Joseph Sammut, Callus said that "everyone has to be responsible and accountable for his own actions… If there is truly a conflict of interest, Joseph Sammut must stand out and say he has conflict of interest. Howev- er, I am not in a position to judge the relationship between Joseph Sammut and Marco Gaffarena," Callus told MaltaToday. Last week, MaltaToday revealed that Marco Gaffarena, one of the owners of the controversial Gaf- farena service station in Qormi, and Sammut are directors of an import company, International Tobacco (Malta) Limited. Gaffarena is a shareholder in J Gaff Service Station Ltd, whose petrol pump last month was finally granted a controversial permit by the Malta Environment and Planning Author- ity, after having been forcefully shut down in 2008 and again in 2009 after its owners illegally built new struc- tures on site. The decision to grant this tempo- rary permit was however not taken by the MEPA Board, on which Sammut sits, but by a subsidiary board. But the Labour MP was unexpect- edly cagey when MaltaToday tried to solicit a comment on his business re- lationship with Gaffarena, last week. Sammut sternly refused to explain the company's functions, and his as- sociation with Gafferena, one of his political supporters in the last gen- eral elections, as evidence by a photo showing the businessman at a 2013 campaign event together with La- bour activist Sandro Chetcuti, the president of the Malta Developers' Association. Earlier this year, the well-connected Gaffarena family, was granted a tem- porary clearance to reopen its petrol station in Qormi against a €500,000 bank guarantee. Joe Gaffarena, the director of the family business and father to Marco Gaffarena, said that his eight children had suffered "hardship" for five years due the station's closure. Gaffarena was awarded a permit to erect the petrol station in 2007, but subsequent additions were made without permit. In January 2011, MEPA turned down the sanction- ing of extension works to Gaffarena's petrol station because the illegalities on site were resulting in the further intensification of urbanization in an outside development zone. Marco Gaffarena (centre) at a political benefit for Joe Sammut, with (second from left) MDA president and Labour ativist Sandro Chetcuti. MP Joe Sammut (inset).