Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/527016
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 JUNE 2015 News 11 gested as a justification for the building on 90,000 square metres of land at Zonqor, by implying that the project will not be feasible else- where. The SPED still recommends a "sequential approach", through which the government should first re-use or re-develop existing prop- erties and only then proceed to use vacant land. One significant amendment is that any revision of building zone boundaries "must not constitute a significant change" over the 2006 extension, even though the revi- sion can include additions and ex- clusions of the 2006 boundaries. Back in December 2014, parlia- mentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon told MaltaToday that the new local plans will add new zones "unfairly" left out in the controversial 2006 rationalisation, but excluded a major extension of building zones. Din l-Art Helwa had proposed that there should be no change in development zones. The document now also directly refers to facilitating the develop- ment of "bunkering facilities for liquefied natural gas", crucial to the government's project for a new natural gas plant at Delimara. The SPED document also in- cludes objectives first set out in 2012 by the Nationalist adminis- tration, but these remain generic in form rather than concrete policies as with the Structure Plan. The only concrete proposals en- shrined in actual SPED policy are Labour's pet projects for a Gozo airstrip, a cruise liner terminal in Gozo, land reclamation and tour- ism development in Comino. "It's an excellent example of pla- giarism," says Ryan Callus. "La- bour turned a document intended to serve as a guideline, into what should be a fully fledged SPED, devoid of any policies and lacking studies which are crucial to any planner in determining a vision for the next ten years as dictated by the Environment and Develop- ment Act." JURGEN BALZAN MALTA'S law for in vitro fertiliza- tion, currently outlawing the freez- ing of embryos and only allowing for the use of frozen ova, has been put under review by a working group and is expected deliver pro- posals in the coming weeks. A meeting of the Labour Party's women's section with health par- liamentary secretary Chris Fearne called for a reform the law regulat- ing IVF in order to give families "a better chance" at conceiving chil- dren. In the meeting with Fearne, women's section president and former MEP Claudette Abela Bal- dacchino requested a meeting with Fearne's inter-ministerial working group created to review the law. On his part, Fearne explained that the working group includesdrepre- sentatives of the health, civil liber- ties and justice ministries and ex- perts who are currently reviewing the law introduced in 2013. Controversially the law intro- duced by the previous Nationalist administration banned embryo freezing and embraced the novel science of freezing, or vitrification, the female gametes – ova – which are then fertilised in pairs: after harvesting, two eggs are fertilised with sperm, while the rest of the eggs are frozen for later use. Unlike embryo freezing, vitrifica- tion skirts the ethical dilemmas of leaving 'unclaimed' human embry- os in freezers. No more than two ova can be fertilised during each fertilisation cycle, and access to IVF is regulated by an embryology authority to decide who is entitled to the free treatment. Baldacchino and her colleagues also highlighted the importance of sexual education and aware- ness campaigns on screening pro- grammes to detect breast cancer as early as possible. While pointing out that screen- ing programmes have been ex- tended to cover women aged 55 to 65, Fearne announced that the government would be launching an app to provide guidance and in- formation about breast cancer. He also said that the health di- vision would soon be setting up a mobile clinic at the University of Malta to raise awareness on sexual health and STDs. Minister wants IVF law reform PAGE 16-17 The evolution of Malta's high-rise future %5($.7,0( )520(;&$9$7,21$1' '(02/,7,21:25.6 ȋȌǡ ȋȌϐ ϐ ȋͳͷ͵Ͳ ʹͲͳͷȌǡ Ǥ ǤǤǤǤ ʹʹͻʹͲͺȋϐȌͻͻ͵ͷͲͺ ȋϐȌǤ Ǥ 0,1,675<)2575$163257$1',1)5$6758&785( %8,/',1*5(*8/$7,212)),&( historical This view of Mdina will not be protected against development taking place elsewhere Din l-Art Helwa wants the 'protection of landscapes of cultural and natural importance to ensure that vistas are not ruined' A working group is reviewing the law on in vitro fertilization