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WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PG 9 • Editorial WEDNESDAY • 2 NOVEMBER 2016 • ISSUE 494 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Paceville 'appropriations' will cost €151 million JAMES DEBONO THE cost of "appropriating" land to create new public areas in Paceville will cost between €144 and €151 million. The estimate is based on prices provided to consultants Mott Macdonald by the government, which have been published in ap- pendices to the Paceville master plan. Costs for land appropriation represent more than a fourth of total costs for the implementation of the master plan, estimated at between €443 and €596 million. The costs are based on the ap- propriation of 27,219 square me- tres of land in four different are- as, namely 2,200 square metres of land in St George's Park, which is identified for a new plaza, 15,074 square metres of land around St George's Bay, 966 square metres in Triq Sant Wistin and 2,160 square metres in Triq Mikiel An- ton Vassalli. A development brief approved in 2005 had already identified space for a central plaza in the area near Mercury house, which would not have required any ex- propriation but this area has now been identified for more high-rise development. The area surround- ing a renovated Mercury House was to "be used as public open space, including the creation of a piazza". The greatest cost (€128 million) is involved in "appropriating" land in the so-called St George's Parade where land is valued at €8,500 per square metre. St George's Parade will be lo- cated to the north of St George's Bay between the Corinthia and ITS sites. According to the mas- ter plan the creation of an open space in this area will provide "fantastic views back across the bay and towards the Villa Rosa on the hillside". A further €8 million is envisaged to expropriate land at Triq Santu Wistin – the main route down to St George's Beach from the entrance to Paceville. PAGE 7 Jury declares man accused of 1993 Chef Italy murder not guilty SEE PAGE 3 BOV chairman to resign, Deo Scerri mooted for role MATTHEW VELLA BANK of Valletta chairman John Cassar White will see his term of office come to an end, after filing an official letter of resignation, MaltaToday has been told. Cassar White was appointed chairman of BOV, whose largest institutional shareholder is the Maltese government, in April 2013. Banking sources have sug- gested that the government will nominate Deo Scerri for the chairmanship, having been ap- pointed to the board of directors in April 2013. A qualified accountant, Scerri was the managing partner of RSM Malta, before stepping down from the role to take up the BOV directorship. His firm was the auditor for the Labour Party, as well as having served as the au- ditor for the Sadeen group's edu- cational subsidiary in Malta, the developers of the controversial American University of Malta. The BOV chairmanship, whose appointment rests squarely in the government's hands, has long been considered a post where po- litical influence comes first. Cassar White has in the past addressed a political rally for the Labour Party after it was elected to power, and before that was one of Labour leader Alfred Sant's confidants, as well as a former chairman of the Malta Shipyards during the Sant administration. On his watch, BOV was strong- ly criticised by the Maltese courts for allowing the company's direc- tors to assess each other's suit- ability to contest the board of directors election, rather than by an independent committee. George Portanier – a BOV di- rector since 1992 – filed the case after fellow directors deemed he was no longer suitable to contest the post, following a self-assess- ment exercise by the same board. Instead of having a nomination committee independent from the board, John Cassar White had decided to draft a questionnaire so that directors could assess themselves and other candidates on their suitability to re-contest the posts. The procedure enabled the di- rectors themselves to decide who to exclude from contesting the elections for directorship, which meant directors could bar a serving director who did not get along with them. Minutes of a board meeting showed that Cas- sar White himself acknowledged that better procedures needed to be put in place. The bank changed its vetting system after the court decision. As BOV chairman, Cassar White chairs the boards of MSV Life p.l.c., Valletta Fund Manage- ment and Valletta Fund Services, and is a member on the board of Mapfre Middlesea p.l.c. He spent most of his professional ca- reer with Bank of Valletta, from where he retired in 2008 after having occupied different sen- ior executive positions over a career spanning 36 years. He also served as direc- tor of a n u m b e r of state- o w n e d c o m p a - nies as well as private investment companies. Up to March 2013, he was a lecturer at the Institute of Business and Commerce of MCAST. Deo Scerri currently chairs the BOV board's Audit Committee and is a member of the board's Remuneration and Nominations Committee and a member of the bank's Asset and Liability Com- mittee. He is the financial expert on the local UEFA Clubs Licens- ing Board and is also a member of the Malta Football Association's Finance Committee. Deo Scerri Photomontage of the proposed Paceville plaza