Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/509499
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015 11 News MATTHEW VELLA A planning application to MEPA for a shooting range at the Busbesija aircraft battery, is still at screening stage, awaiting a project description statement and restoration method statement for the rehabilitation of the military complex. The proposed range is eliciting con- troversy after proponents U Group were selected to take over the sur- rounding area and rehabilitate the barracks, following an expression of interest issued in October 2013. But the shooting range abuts on a well-patronised retreat home, Mount St Joseph, owned by the Jesuit Soci- ety, which says the range will kill the silence that is sought by hundreds who make use of the retreat home. U Group, a Russian firm which devised a submarine for audiovisual services once tested by President Vladimir Putin himself, had already submitted a screening application to MEPA back on 31 December, 2012. Parliamentary secretary for plan- ning Michael Falzon told MaltaTo- day that MEPA issued a screening letter on 5 March, 2013, raising a number of issues on the proposed de- velopment and requesting drawings and information to enable its proper assessment. "On submission of the requirements outlined in the screening letter, the application will be further screened for the need of any additional stud- ies such as an Environmental Impact Assessment and a Traffic Impact As- sessment. Further processing, from a planning point of view, which in- cludes consultations with relevant government departments and agen- cies, will follow the outcome of these studies," Falzon said. The 6,898 square metre site at il- Busbesija was one of the four vacant government properties issued for conservation and management by the private sector, in an expression of interest by the Government Property Department in October 2013. Although U Group had already started a screening process for its shooting range back in December 2012, despite the land earmarked not being their property, this does not prevent them from applying for a de- velopment permit. "Anybody can submit an applica- tion to MEPA, but one must declare whether they are the owner of the property or otherwise. If the owner of the property is the government, even though MEPA may grant a develop- ment permit, this does not oblige the government to dispose of any prop- erty; the applicant is obliged to seek the consent of the landowner before any development starts," Falzon told MaltaToday. Apart from U Group, the other shortlisted applicants for the Bus- besija site were a consortium called Busbesija Group of Investors, and Vassallo Builders Group. The parliamentary secretary said that all proposals were assessed on their artistic concept, execution ca- pacity and relative budgeting. "The proposal submitted by U Group was considered to have the most innova- tive concept, holistic approach and a feasible business projection. "Once the advanced negotiations are concluded and agreement is reached on the proposed concession, then the award of this site in favour of the preferred proponent through an emphyteutical concession would have to be presented through a parliamen- tary resolution for the approval of the House of Representatives." Falzon said that in the event that discussions and negotiations with the preferred proponent fail for any reason whatsoever, then discussions with the other shortlisted applicants would commence. MATTHEW VELLA THE Maltese courts have been pe- titioned by Tripoli's national salva- tion government, or Libya Dawn, to recognise their representative as legitimate delegate to take control of the Libyan-Arab Maltese Holding Company (LAMHCO). LAMHCO is a subsidiary of the Libyan-Arab Foreign Investment Company, jointly owned with the Maltese government, with some €46.5 million in capital in the Vivaldi and Milano Due hotels, and indus- trial manufacturing firms in Malta. With rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk scrambling for the as- sets of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, even the country's sovereign fund – the Libyan Investment Author- ity – has now been divided into two branches. In Malta, LAMHCO's directors remain under control of the 'To- bruk LIA' but its former chairman, Mohsen Ali Derregia, has requested that he be recognised as Tripoli's man and representative of the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAIP) – which is owned by the LIA. The LAIP is currently being run from Malta by Hassan Bouhadi, chairman Ali Hebri, and executive director Ahmed Kashadah. Like many other Libyan entrepreneurs and government officials, a lot of Libyan business is being carried out from offices and apartments on the island. Since the LAIP's offices in Tripoli were overrun by armed men in De- cember, 2014, Kashadah took all of the funds' records to Malta. Originally, Bouhadi was installed at the head of the $60 billion LIA to take over from former minister Abdulrahman Benyezza back in Oc- tober 2014, the result of the fierce power struggle for control between the internationally-recognised gov- ernment in Tobruk and the Islamist- led Libya Dawn that controls the capital Tripoli. After Tobruk sacked Benyezza and installed Kashadah in Malta to run the fund, it is now Mohsen Derregia who is asking the Maltese courts to recognise the termination of Kasha- dah as LAIP representative. "Ahmed Kashadah does not occu- py the post of general manager, to- day occupied by Mohsen Derregia," the civil court notice read. Derregia himself resisted attempts by former prime minister Ali Zeidan to remove him from the LIA, claim- ing that the decision was against the rule of law. 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