Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/343370
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 JULY 2014 News 4 JAMES DEBONO A set of vague policy objectives known as the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) will do away with the exist- ing policy of the 1992 Structure Plan calling for full public ownership of the coastline. Structure Plan policy CZM 3 - which may well go down in history as the most left-wing policies ever enacted in Malta - unambiguously states that "all the coastline will be brought into public ownership with- in a specified period". The policy was never implement- ed, but it was strategically invoked by case officers when faced by appli- cations which denied public access to the coast. The policy also states that access around the coastline immediately adjacent to the sea or at the top of cliffs and bays, harbours, and creeks "will be secured". To achieve this aim the structure plan calls on the government to take the coastline into public ownership. The same policy also calls for gov- ernment acquisition "of illegal devel- opments and encroachments". Moreover policy REC 12 calls for the demolition of all illegal stone built structures on the Maltese coast. The Structure Plan warned that if these structures "are allowed to re- main, evicted shanty users (in other localities) would ask why they are being proceeded against and not the others, and most importantly it would be seen as another case of benefit accruing to those who break the law at the expense of those who do not, and a signal that it is worth attempting further illegal develop- ment because of the government's reluctance to enforce the law." Although approved by parliament these policies were never intro- duced, to the extent that the privati- sation of the coastline through legal and illegal developments continued in subsequent years. But these policies were often in- voked against further permits for developments encroaching on the foreshore. For example the Environment Pro- tection Directorate recently invoked CZM 2 to call for the inclusion of adequate pedestrian access along the seaward edge of a proposed lido on reclaimed land in Gzira. These policies also stood as a stum- bling block against the sanctioning of any illegal coastal development, such as the shantytown in Armier and applications to sanction kiosks. A probe by MaltaToday just days ago revealed that 24 commercial es- tablishments located on scheduled areas of the coastline are facing en- forcement notices. These policies seem to have been sidelined: for instance, one of the ob- jectives of the final SPED document issued for public consultation states that recreational facilities should not "restrict or interfere with physical or visual access of the coast", but makes no direct reference to reclaiming public ownership of the coastline or the removal of existing illegalities. Moreover as amended by the cur- rent administration the document also includes new commitments in favour of land reclamation and the development of a cruise terminal and yacht marina in Gozo. The Environment and Develop- ment Planning Act states that the Strategic Plan should set out poli- cies and include an explanatory memorandum giving a reasoned justification for each of the poli- cies and proposals contained in the plans. The document issued for public consultation does not include the required policies, let alone any rea- soned justification for them. It only contains a list of objectives, which are very similar to the objectives published in 2012 by the previous administration in preparation for the Strategic Plan. The 2012 document clearly stated that the objectives were only in- tended to "guide the policy formu- lation stage of the drawing up of a new SPED". Environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa had objected to this, arguing that it is unacceptable for the same objectives to now be presented by the government as the full Strategic Plan. ZABBAR mayor Quinton Scerri has tendered his resignation from the local council af ter an inquir y held by the board of local govern- ance concluded that he fabricated evidence on a hit-and-run acci- dent involving a fellow council- lor. Other irregularities were also investigated. The board concluded that Scerri ran the council in an " irrespon- sible and amateurish " way and since the board does not have the power to dissolve local councils, it suggested a change in the law which would give the board such discretion. In a letter to the junior minister responsible for local government, Stefan Buontempo, Scerri insist- ed that the inquir y's conclusions were "wrong and unjust". "I therefore feel that I would be in a better position to clear my name from unfounded allega- tions and annul the conclusions reached, which in my opinion were only intended to damage my reputation following the trust shown in me by the Zabbar elec- torate." Scerri, employed in the Home Affairs ministr y, added that he was taking the decision " in a se- rene manner" in full respect of the electorate and the Labour Part y. The report investigated a number of alleged irregularities f lagged by the president of the Labour Part y councillors section, Mario Fava, in Februar y 2014. The accusations, apart from the fabrication of evidence, included irregularities committed by the mayor during the organisation of a food festival, the awarding of a contract to a company which has, as a director, a relative of Scerri, and the discriminator y way funds were personally handed out to certain clubs in the localit y. In August 2013, Sunday newspa- per Illum reported that the police were called to inter vene during a Zabbar local council meeting, af- ter weeks of tension bet ween the mayor, councillors and the coun- cil 's executive secretar y. Commitments for full public ownership of the Maltese coastline and the eviction of illegal coastline development found in the Structure Plan are absent from the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development Freeport to expand with Chinese investment 'Amateurish' Zabbar mayor resigns JAMES DEBONO INVESTMENT from China and Dubai could turn the Malta Freep- ort into a warehousing hub for com- panies seeking to exploit Malta's strategic location. Further expan- sion through land reclamation is foreseen in the next decade. This was revealed by Freeport chief executive Aaron Farrugia in an interview published on The Re- port Company, a publication which produces high profile business fea- tures on countries and markets around the world. Aaron Farrugia revealed that the government is looking at the pos- sibility of expanding the Freeport zone into a logistics warehouse, similar to that in Jebel Ali in Dubai using "foreign investment where the foreign investor will have offices in Smart City Malta and warehouses in this new district park". The project may be realised by the end of the year, according to Far- rugia. Jebel Ali is the world's largest man-made harbour and the biggest port in the Middle East. It offers warehousing space to major global corporations like Sony, which on its own owns 23,000 square metres of storage space. "My idea is to develop this dis- trict park together with a Chinese company and a company from the UAE," Farrugia said. According to Farrugia Malta Freeport Corporation, the Chinese company and the UAE Company will each own a third of the share ownership. According to Farrugia the Free- port has not yet benefited from its proximity to the airport, which is just 10 minutes away. "You can have stock containers from the ships that call at the Free- port through air freight." Farrugia also revealed that further land reclamation next to the Free- port is also on the agenda, though the sea over here is the deepest all around the island. Although Far- rugia considers the project to be a long-term one, he adds that it can be done in the next five to seven years. Quinton Scerri 1992 commitment to 'nationalise' coastline absent from new plans