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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 26 Letters SPINOLA Development, the company which owns the Portomaso apartments, has redeemed the lease of the land at the luxury St Julians development for a total of Lm800,000. Granted 31 acres of land back in 1964 for 150 years, the company paid an an- nual rent of Lm1,000. It has now paid the government more than double it would have to pay in 2114 for the absolute own- ership of the land. The company is now asking the owners of its 150 or so apartments whether they are interested in redeeming their tempo- rary leases ahead of 2114. No price has yet been set by the company. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister confirmed that with 109 years left until the expiration of the emphyteusis, the amount that would have to be paid for the transfer of the land would have been Lm109,000. Maurice Tabone, sales and marketing director, said the company wanted to consolidate its asset base: "The law might change so it made sense that we buy it, even since a tender was issued and some- one else might bid for it. It was in our in- terest to redeem the emphyteusis." He acknowledged that the price paid was significant. "It is closer to a million if you had to include stamp duty, other legal fees and interest," Tabone said. The company, which has told residents it would be willing to redeem the emphy- teusis for the remaining 109 years, has not established the price it will be offer- ing. "We sent clients a letter informing them we had purchased the freehold, and that ground rent was payable to Spinola Development, and proposed that in the near future whoever was interested could redeem the emphyteusis," Tabone said. Owners of the apartments whose prices range from Lm80,000 to over Lm320,000, currently pay a ground rent of Lm1 every year – it would cost Lm180 in 2114 for the transfer of absolute ownership to the dwellers. Several have written back to the com- pany saying they are interested in becom- ing full owners of their apartments, but are asking to know the price beforehand. "We haven't set the formula yet… Natu- rally, one would have to be reasonable about it," Tabone said. Residents forming part of the Porto- maso Apartments Residents Committee (PARC) have said they had repeatedly written to the government enquiring whether they could redeem the tempo- rary lease but there was never any ac- knowledgment from the government. A call for tender was published on 16 August 2005 in the government gazette. Maurice Tabone said the company had been in discussions with the Lands De- partment to establish a method for Por- tomaso's dwellers to pay their ground rents directly to the government. "There was a problem on how the ground rent on the area should be split between all the different homeowners. The discussion that took place was that it would have been too cumbersome or the Lands Department to issue so many indi- vidual receipts for a ground rent costing Lm1 a year for an apartment and 20c for a garage. The department then decided to issue a call for tender." Portomaso residents were aware of the tender but could not get organised to submit a tender. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said anyone could have applied for the tender. "Unfortunately, there was only bidder," the spokesperson said. The Office of the Prime Minister de- nied any meeting between Spinola Devel- opment with the Prime Minister or the Home Affairs Minister prior to the issue of the call for tenders. Spinola Development has already paid Lm400,000 on contract, and will pay the remaining balance over the next two years. The notary public for the sale and trans- fer of the land was Labour MP Charles Mangion. Portomaso acquires full ownership of land for Lm800,000 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Exorbitant pay for top EU commercial bankers Relevance of youth work profession The death of children The just published European Banking Authority (EBA) re- port on remuneration practices shows that the number of high earners in EU banks increased significantly in 2014. Most probably 2015 was not included as this report is still being worked out, although those familiar with the com- mercial banking sector can vouch that nothing much changed last year as regards remuneration for top bankers. According to the EBA report the average ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration dropped significantly for high earners, as well as for all other identified staff (that is staff at top management positions such as 'Chief Officers'). The drop between the variable and fixed remuneration came about not because of less gravy accord- ing to my reading, but due to 'smarter arrangements'. The report, which is regularly compiled by this pan-European regulator, focuses on the identification of (top) staff, the application of deferral arrange- ments, the pay-out in financial instruments and the impact of the bonus cap on institutions' financial stability and cost f lex- ibility, which was found to have no significant effect. The report differentiates between data on the remu- neration of "high-earners" and benchmarking data for "identi- fied staff ". Here again we have the same old story of crumbs for the lower echelons and the lion's share for the select few. At the local level, a quick look at the remuneration as outlined in the recently published HSBC (Malta) Annual Report and Financial Statements is equally eye-opening. J. Bonett Balzan St Julian's News -15 April 2006 If like me you are interested in join- ing a profession that supports young people, enjoy working with them, and crave knowledge then I recommend that you should read for a degree in Youth and Community Studies. A youth worker is committed to giv- ing priority to the interests of young people generally in group situations through various activities. Once the needs of the group of young people are assessed a youth worker engages in the planning and successful delivery of programmes related to areas relevant to youth today. Youth work is about supporting, man- aging and administering these projects whilst working hand in hand with both young people and other profession- als from other organisations. In this turbulent period of adolescence a youth worker can be the catalyst of change in the personal, social and emotional growth of young people. A key element in youth work is build- ing and maintaining relationships with young people, with relationships of trust and mutual respect emerg- ing from casual informal interactions. These interactions may happen at youth cafes or centres or through 'out- reach' or 'detached' youth work which happen in any place where young people congregate, such as swings or on the streets. Youth work is a relatively new profes- sion in Malta, with the approval of the Youth Work Profession Act in 2015. This legislation, which regulates the youth work profession, was made possible at least in part by various cur- rent and former academic staff at the Department of Youth and Community Studies at the University of Malta. As in any other profession, youth workers in Malta have a professional associa- tion called the Malta Association of Youth workers (MAY). If you have youth empowerment at heart and wish to read for a course that may lead you to becoming a profes- sional youth worker, then I urge you to take up a degree course in Youth and Community Studies at the University of Malta. Kylie Poppe Msida OVER the years, the local media reported many cases of children who suffered a tragic death or died in a horrific manner. These reports included the case of a five- month-old English baby which was snatched from its cot by two Rottweilers, dragged to the roof of the house, and there mauled to death. Other cases involved two Canadian boys who were strangled by a python while they slept; an 18-month old Russian toddler who fell and drowned in a sewer while out on a stroll with its mother; and an English girl who was sav- aged to death by a pack of dogs. There is no way that these horrific deaths can be reconciled with the belief in a benevolent God who looks after His children like a loving Father. God was not moved to render His di- vine assistance when He heard these children screaming as they suffered a fearful and ago- nizing death. Any human being in the vicinity of these screaming children would have rushed to their aid. This lack of divine intervention on behalf of children in grave danger was also evident dur- ing the earthquake at San Giuliano di Puglia in 2002, when 26 four-year-old boys and girls were crushed to death under the rubble of their school. During their funeral, their moth- ers "railed at the heavens: 'Why did God do this to us? Why?'." The media recently reported the tragic case of the English girl Summer Grant who died af- ter suffering multiple injuries when the bouncy castle she was playing on blew away. Cara Blackie, the girl's mother, said she was "truly heartbroken". She said: "Words just can't explain how I am feeling right now, life is just truly cruel. Summer was a bright, beautiful and most loving little girl, it is so unfair that you have been taken away, it just doesn't make sense." Summer's father, Lee Grant, said: "I never thought our beautiful angel would be taken away from us or that we would outlive her. She was the most happy, polite and beautiful girl in the world. I still can't come to terms that she's not here." Dostoevsky observed in The Brothers Kara- mazov, that no "inscrutable" divine plan can ever justify the suffering and death of children. "It's beyond all comprehension why children should suffer." Novelist Ian McEwan told an audience at Stanford University in 2007: "The believers should know in their hearts by now that, even if they are right and there is a personal God, He is a reluctant intervener, as all the daily trag- edies, including the death of children, attest. The rest of us, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, know that it is highly improbable that there is anyone up there at all." John Guillaumier St Julian's