Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/347048
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 JULY 2014 News 5 Nationalist MPs walk out of parliament after Speaker refuses to suspend sitting MIRIAM DALLI PARLIAMENT on Tuesday evening was adjourned at 7.15pm after the Opposition declared there was no quorum in Parlia- ment for the sitting to be held and proceeded to walk out of the Chamber. The Opposition's decision came after Speaker Anglu Farrugia re- fused to suspend a sitting while he left the room to give a ruling requested by the Opposition. Parliament was scheduled to discuss a Bill for the transfer of all the assets, rights, liabilities and obligations of Enemalta Cor- poration to Enemalta plc. But at the start of the debate, National- ist MP George Pullicino declared that the Opposition would not discuss the Enemalta Transfer of Assets Act before the September memorandum of understanding signed with China is published. After hearing the arguments brought forward by both sides, the Speaker said he will give a ruling, but refused to suspend the sitting. He said deputy speaker Censu Galea would take over while he withdrew to his office. Protesting against Farrugia's de- cision, the PN's deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco said the Speaker could not take such a decision. "My decision is final and the sit- ting will not be suspended," Far- rugia replied. This prompted de Marco to ask a ruling on whether the Speaker could give a ruling while the session was ongoing. A quorum requires 15 out of 69 MPs to be present in the House of Representatives. When the Oppo- sition realised they were getting nowhere with the Speaker, Agius called for a quorum – and this was not reached. Farrugia however still refused to suspend the sitting, and the Op- position stood up and walked out of the Chamber with whip David Agius declaring there was no quo- rum. According to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, transfer of all En- emalta's assets was being done "to modernise" the state corporation and had nothing to do with the agreement signed with Shanghai Power Electric. "The Act has nothing to do with the contracts. It simply is an Act to modernise Enemalta, irrespec- tive of whether Shanghai Power Electric will invest or not. It is simply converting Enemalta into a public limited company. And I can assure the Opposition that at no point does the Act refer to Shang- hai Power Electric," Mizzi said. Mizzi added that, through min- isterial statements, he had kept parliament updated every step of the way. The September MoU was an agreement by means of which China showed its intention to invest in Malta's energy sector, through direct investment in En- emalta, with the possibility of set- ting up a company which assem- bles Chinese solar panels in Malta for Europe. Despite repeated calls by the Opposition, the memorandum of understanding was not tabled in Parliament. "This Act provides the vehicle by which China will invest in En- emalta. The government wants to sell the power plant to China and sell the petroleum division. We cannot discuss this Act without first studying the details of the agreement reached with the Chi- nese," George Pullicino insisted. He insisted the Opposition was left in the dark also on the con- tract signed with ElectroGas, the consortium chosen by Enemalta to build a new gas power station and supply electricity. He added that the Speaker should also give a ruling on the publication of the agreement. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD Speaker Anglu Farrugia Fast track permits for 'temporary structures' Pembroke mayor calls for more police presence in locality Temporary structures erected for 120-day periods exempted from full permits JAMES DEBONO "TEMPORARY and reversible" structures like tracks for bump- ing cars, stage platforms and luna parks which previously could only be erected for 30 days may now be erected for a maximum of 120 days in any particular year. Such structures can already be erected through a Development Notification Order – a simplified planning procedure which does not foresee case officer reports, public board meetings and information to objectors. Through the latest legal notice owners of these structures may seek a maximum of three extensions (of 30 days each) to the original 30 day permit. Moreover owners have been given 10 extra days after the expiry of each 30 day permit to restore the site to its original state. Presently owners have to restore the site affected by this development to its pristine state within 30 days. Moreover when these temporary structures are erected in develop- ment zones, MEPA can now extend the temporary one-month permit to a maximum of four months follow- ing a written request by the devel- oper. The legal notice foresees that a maximum of three extensions can be granted in different periods of the year. These extensions can be granted within a 100-metre radius of the original permit. Presently anyone who wants to erect temporary structures for more than 30 days in any particular year has to apply for a full development permit. Now owners of such facilities can apply for three additional 30-day extensions through the simplified Development Notification Order procedure. Effectively this means that sites within development zones can be occupied by private developers for as long as 120 days a year in the ab- sence of a full planning permit. In ODZ sites MEPA is precluded from issuing extensions beyond the original 30-day permit. But even in these sites developers have been granted an extra 10 days to clear the site over and above the present 30- day timeframe. Permits for temporary and revers- ible structures can already be issued through a Development Notifica- tion Order. When located in Out- side Development Zones, develop- ers can still make use of the DNO facility but must give more detailed information. In September 2013 the government had issued a legal notice; through which the simplified DNO proce- dure can be applied to "the revers- ible use of land for the parking of vehicles" when such development is located within development zones. In 2012 the issue of a permit for a circus in Naxxar through a DNO for a "reversible and temporary struc- ture" was censured by planning ombudsman David Pace in a report issued in December 2013. He recommended that the Devel- opment Notification Order should ensure that DNO permits respect structure plan policies protecting residents from visual intrusion, noise, vibration, atmospheric pol- lution, unusually high traffic gen- eration, unusual operating times, or any other characteristic that consti- tutes bad neighbourliness. Planning ombudsman David Pace had observed that this case illustrat- ed "the complex and often unwieldy situation with regard to the holding of 'temporary' activities". In this case following MEPA's de- cision not to issue a DNO permit, the circus was simply dismantled and re-erected a few metres away as there was nothing to prevent it from setting up once more in a 'tempo- rary' manner once it had been dis- mantled and the activity stopped in terms of the temporary permit originally issued. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD TIM ATTARD MONTALTO THE mayor of Pembroke, Dean Hi- li, has called for more police pres- ence in his locality. Hili said that while the fact that Pembroke was rather secluded and cut-off from other villages – and these characteristics were cher- ished by the large majority of its residents – it could also bring with it undesired consequences. Hili explained that the relative vi- cinity of Pembroke to Paceville, as well as the fact that the village was home to many host families who cater for foreign students who come to Malta to learn English, leads to certain cases of abuse. This, in turn, has raised security concerns among several residents. "Pembroke does not overly suffer from cases of theft or crimes of a similar nature," Hili told MaltaTo- day. "Vandalism, however, is a big problem over here, with many of these caused by students returning home after a night out at the night clubs." It is not only the foreign students who cause havoc, though, as the mayor points out. "We have had cases of drug abuse with many used syringes now serving as a health hazard for children," he said, add- ing that he was particularly irked by the fact that young couples ben- efitted from Pembroke's 'out of the way' nature to have sex in their ve- hicles. Hili lamented the fact that Pem- broke did not have its own police station – with the St Julians station called upon in case of assistance – but did not necessarily believe the locality required one. "It must be said that these are isolated cases but the fact is that we could cer- tainly do with better police pres- ence in Pembroke," he said. "Many times, these petty crimes are al- lowed to be carried out because the St Julians station is drowning in work-load and cannot cope with its locality, as well as ours." The Minister for Home Affairs, Manuel Mallia, will be visiting the Pembroke local council tomorrow with these issues expected to be brought up by the council repre- sentatives. Temporary structure: last month's Isle of MTV stage at the Granaries, Floriana