Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/488485
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 APRIL 2015 8 News transparency, Actavis expects three quarters of a million euro savings in energy bills Virtù Ferries This weeks winner is JOHN PORTELLI with his photograph, Monastery of Bose, northern Italy - dawn mist. Photo shot in April 2014 MaltaToday and Virtù Ferries have teamed up to take one lucky winner and a companion every week to Sicily, with two tickets to be won every week in our photography competition. Already been on holiday? Good: we're sending you back if your best photograph from your holidays and travels makes the cut. That's right: send us a good quality image of your holidays and we'll send the best one to the gateway of Italy with Virtù Ferries. Malta - Sicily Express Ferries For more information visit www.virtuferries.com or contact by telephone 23491000 RULES OF THE COMPETITION maltatoday Conditions apply: 1. Tickets for each week's competition can only be won by one person who submits one entry of a high-res image with description. Entrants with more than one entry WILL NOT be considered. Entrants must send a description of photo. 2. Winners will be informed before the end of the week, and then announced on maltatoday.com.mt and MaltaToday on Sunday. 3. By entering this offer, entrants consent to their photos being published and owned by Mediatoday Co Ltd. 4. The entrant with the best photograph will be awarded two (2) return tickets, valid for travel to any Virtù Ferries destination. Mediatoday's decision is final. 5. Tickets are issued free of charge, excluding port charges, and in accordance with Virtù Ferries' rules and regulations. All taxes and charges are to be paid accordingly by the winning entrant upon the issuance of tickets. 6. This offer is closed to employees and contributors of Mediatoday Co. Ltd and Virtù Ferries, or their family members. This week's theme: Travel SEND US PHOTOS FROM YOUR FAVOURITE HOLIDAY PHOTO COMPETITION WINNER! Photos should be a hi-res image (one per individual entry) with a sentence or two about what inspired you to take your photo. Entrants are kindly reminded not to send in personal family pictures that might be unrelated to theme subjects unless expressly requested. If sending a photo by post, address it to: 'MaltaToday photo competition', Mediatoday, Vjal ir- Rihan, San Gwann, SGN9016 Please supply your daytime telephone number, your name, your home address and an email address. Send the photo via email on info@mediatoday.com.mt [SUBJECT HEADING: MaltaToday photo competition] by next Friday at 9am. Themes may change from one week to the other MIRIAM DALLI LEADING pharmaceutical com- pany Actavis will be saving some €750,000 annually on energy bills because of the energy tariff cut from today, helping the company substantially lower its cost of pro- duction. Actavis managing director Patrick Cachia said the tariff re- duction would help the company increase its investment in the training of workers while it seeks to continue investing in more ef- ficient and alternative energy. Actavis, established in Malta in 1976, employs some 750 workers in its two plants in Bulebel and Hal Far. It is one of the estab- lished pharmaceutical companies across the world and its plants in Malta produce four billion cap- sules every year. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday visited the Bulebel plant, during which he announced that the government's pledge to reduce energy tariffs for busi- nesses will come into force today. It is estimated that businesses – from manufacturing companies to hotels and restaurants and cor- ner shops – will save €50 million collectively. "Thanks to this reduction in the energy tariffs, Actavis will be saving €750,000 every year. Our biggest costs are workers' salaries and energy bills are our second. The reduction will mean a low- er cost of production and more money that can be invested in the latest technology and workers' training," Cachia said. He added that the company will keep working to improve its effi- ciency while also investing in al- ternative energy. The energy minister said the government had to do its part to continue helping companies that invested so heavily in their resources but were hindered by high energy costs. "These companies bring a lot of work to Malta and we felt the gov- ernment had to do its bit," Mizzi said, adding that the reductions were possible thanks to a savings plan and Enemalta's investment. He said that Enemalta will be emulating best practices adopted by enterprises to continue learn- ing. "The manufacturing industry is here to stay and we will do all that we can to help them f lourish," Mizzi said. Two countryside villas proposed in Zebbug JAMES DEBONO THE Malta Environment and Plan- ning Authority's Cultural Heritage Advisory (CHAC) committee is "strongly" objecting to the develop- ment of two villas over 658 square metres to be built on two floors in an ODZ area in Bordin lane in Zebbug. Although the area is designated as an area of high landscape value and a rural conservation area, it includes within it a building of dubious legal- ity which was built in the 1980s. The CHAC considers the newly proposed development as a case of "urbanisation within the rural land- scape" and is strongly objecting to the proposal. The two villas are being proposed by entrepreneur Mark Gasan to re- place an abandoned pre-1992 farm building. In 2011 MEPA had rejected an ap- plication for a smaller development on the same site. But in 2013 the MEPA's appeal board had issued an outline permit for a one storey resi- dential unit over a floor area of 120 square metres. Aerial photos submitted during the processing of the application showed that the existing pre-1992 farm building had in fact been con- structed before 1988 and that no PAPB permits were ever traced for this development. A permit for a villa was issued in 1986 but was never ex- ecuted and the older structures were retained. In the appeal the architect argued that the new development constitut- ed an improvement over the existing illegal development and should have been considered as an "opportunity to substitute it with a building which is more in harmony with surround- ings." In approving the one-storey devel- opment the tribunal accepted the ar- gument that the small-scale develop- ment represented an improvement over the present situation. Under MEPA's new rural policy old buildings can be considered legal on- ly if constructed before 1978. Objec- tors to the development have point- ed out that 1978 aerial photos show only a small rural room towards the north east of the site. The policy also permits pre-1992 livestock farms but an objector is claiming that the site was used only as a poultry farm. The existing development dates back to the 1980s Minister Konrad Mizzi (right) and Patrick Cachia during the minister's visit yesterday