Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/755517
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2016 10 News MATTHEW VELLA THE ministry for the family and social solidarity has extended by direct order three multi-million euro contracts for cleaning, cater- ing and caring services at the state home for the elderly. Between 2015 and October 2016, over €26 million in direct orders were issued to three dif- ferent companies for cleaning, catering and caring services at St Vincent de Paul Hospital. The individual spends were €8.5 million for catering, renewed eve- ry six months; €3.84 million for cleaning services, and €13.9 mil- lion for caring services. The parliamentary secretariat for active ageing told MaltaTo- day the contractor for catering services, Malta Healthcare Cater- ers, was engaged over an existing pre-2013 contract. A new tender was issued but one of the bidders has appealed and the case is still being heard in Court – ostensibly preventing a new tender from be- ing issued. Malta Healthcare is a joint sub- sidiary of James Caterers and Sea- bank Hotel and Catering. Another company, Support Ser- vices Ltd was contracted as "one of the most equipped companies for caring services" back under the previous legislature. But a new tender document reflecting op- erational changes and changes in legislation is now being compiled to be issued, the secretariat said. Again here, the company is owned by Malta Healthcare Ca- terers, which also provides food catering for Mater Dei Hospital. In 2015, a Misco survey found that with an 825-bed capacity, Mater Dei spends a daily €6,950 in lunch and dinner for patients, totalling some €2,536,750 by the end of the year. The 15-year contract with Malta Healthcare Caterers was signed in 2007 and expires in 2022. Malta Healthcare was ear- marked to develop an old people's home at the scheduled Mtarfa iso- lation hospital, with an extension that NGOs say shows no respect for the building fabric of the list- ed historical structure because it conceals the view of the hospital from the valley. The company for cleaning ser- vices, X-Clean Ltd – owned by Kristina Xuereb – provided the cheapest bid when a call for quo- tations was issued, which is not a public tender. "A new tender document reflecting changes in legislation has been sent to the Department of Contracts and is to be issued," the secretariat said. Each procurement followed ap- proval from the finance ministry, the secretariat said. Government's appeal against former rector's winery extension declared null JAMES DEBONO THE government's unprecedented appeal against the Planning Author- ity's approval of a winery extension proposed by former university rector Juanito Camilleri has been declared null. The decision to nullify the appeal in the case instituted by the Attorney General against the Planning Au- thority, was taken by the PA's Envi- ronment and Review Tribunal. In the appeal the AG was con- testing the decision taken by the Planning Authority's highest board against revoking a permit issued by a lower board in June 2016 for a 600 square metre extension to the win- ery. The new planning law grants the government the right to appeal against any planning decision, even in cases where it did not express an interest by presenting objections during the processing of the applica- tion. But the Tribunal decided that this provision does not apply to cases re- lated to the revocation of planning permits. The Tribunal was composed of planner Martin Saliba, lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace and architect Rob- ert Sarsero. The law limits appeals in such cases to the developer who had his permit revoked or the person making the request to revoke the permit. In this case the request to revoke Camilleri's permit was made by the PA's Plan- ning Directorate. The request was later turned down by the PA board. The decision was taken after Camilleri's lawyers challenged the validity of the AG's appeal against the Planning Authority, insisting that when the government appeals against the decision taken by another organ of the state, it should only do so when it has a direct interest in the case. They also pointed out that the gov- ernment's representative on the PA board, Labour MP Joe Sammut had voted in favour of the decision not to revoke the permit. Unprecedented appeal The appeal against the winery's ap- proval was the first ever presented by a public authority against a decision taken by the Planning Authority, thanks to the power granted to the attorney general in the new planning law approved last year. The Planning Authority had approved scores of permits deemed by case officers to be in breach of policy. Subsequently the Environment and Resources Au- thority, under pressure by environ- mentalists, also appealed a decision against high-rise towers in Sliema. The law states that the "Attorney General on behalf of the Govern- ment and any department, agency, authority or other body corporate wholly owned by the Government", shall always be deemed for all intents and purposes of law to be "an inter- ested third party" with the power of appealing planning decisions. But no reference to this power is made in the part of the law which deals with the revocation of permits. The development of the two-storey winery was originally approved in 2012. But in June the PA approved a permit to extend the basement from the 253 square metres approved in 2008 to 860 square metres. The extended winery, located in the Ta' Betta estates in Ta' Bur il- Kbir, which cover 40,000 square me- tres of land, is set to produce 30,000 bottles of wine a year. The company has been ceritified as organic since 2009. The land on which the winery was approved was used by the previous owner as a place where he used to dump unsold produce. The rural policy approved in 2014 clearly states that ODZ wineries should be restricted to 200 square metres and a basement. The policy states that the area of the basement should not count as part of the total floor area but the policy also defines a basement as "an additional floor under the building's footprint". The case officer argued that the winery as approved in 2012 already exceeded this limit and that the proposed basement went beyond not just the footprint of the existing building but also the approved paved area. Therefore he concluded that the permit could not be issued. But the Agriculture Advisory Committee confirmed the genuine agricultural need for the new devel- opment. Elizabeth Ellul, who chaired the commission which issued the per- mit, was not present when the ap- proval decision was taken on 8 June. She declared that she would have voted against the permit at the meet- ing during which the board imposed the condition through which Camill- eri will have to plant three Gharghar trees on site and donate 100 indig- enous trees to be planted on a public site. In August the Planning Board de- cided not to revoke this permit. The Planning Directorate and the PA's legal office had called on the authority to investigate whether the permit can be revoked, not due to any shortcoming on the part of Juan- ito Camilleri but due to a procedural error by the three members of the board who took the decision. The winery extension was ap- proved in a single sitting by two votes against one despite the negative rec- ommendation of the case officer. According to a legal notice issued in 2016, in cases where a major- ity of board members intend voting against the advice of the case officer, the decision has to be put off to an- other sitting. "It is apparent that a procedural error was made when the commission overturned the rec- ommendation in its first sitting," a document presented by the directo- rate states. But to revoke the permit the PA would require evidence that this "er- ror" had "a material bearing" on the issue of the permit. This would have required the PA to prove that "had the correct information been avail- able at the time of the decision, the decision would have been different". At the end of the meeting Juanito Camilleri threw his arms into the air in relief as the Planning Authority re- fused to revoke the permit issued to him for the extension of the winery. Board members argued that it would have been unfair to punish Camilleri for a mistake made by the members of the Planning Commission. "Revoking this permit would be a travesty of justice," Camilleri told the PA board which turned down the revocation. His lawyer, Ian Stafrace, accused the authority of having led Camilleri on by issuing a permit that it knew was likely to be revoked shortly after, having been aware of the error when the permit was issued. Seabank Hotel subsidiary takes €22 million in direct orders Date Direct order Amount System Reason for DO 09/01/15 Catering services €2,011,000.00 extension Urgent 30/03/15 Cleaning services €634,366.50 extension Urgent 01/01/15 Caring services €5,738,675.00 extension Urgent 06/07/15 Catering services €2,040,640.00 extension Urgent 10/09/15 Cleaning services €634,366.50 extension Urgent 01/10/15 Caring services €2,401,476.00 extension Urgent 01/10/15 Cleaning services €1,268,733.00 extension Urgent 14/01/16 Catering services €2,040,640.00 extension Urgent 07/04/16 Cleaning services €1,303,369.00 extension Urgent 10/03/16 Caring services €2,410,476.00 extension Urgent 14/07/16 Catering services €2,407,955.00 extension Urgent 04/10/16 Caring services €651,683.00 extension Urgent 20/10/16 Caring services €2,778,300.00 extension Urgent Prof. Juanito Camilleri