Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/846769
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 JULY 2017 4 News JAMES DEBONO GRECO, the Council of Europe's anti-corruption watchdog, has reiterated its call on the Maltese au- thorities to revise the Code of Conduct for MPs be- cause it does not sufficiently cover "topics that one might expect to see in such a code". Among these are rules on gifts, misuse of pub- lic resources, misuse of confidential information, third-party contracts and "revolving doors" – the practice of ministers and people in influential public employment who drift out of public service straight into a private company, to their own personal ben- efit. GRECO lamented that "more than two years have elapsed" since the draft Bill on Standards in Pub- lic Life was tabled in parliament, which still awaits adoption. It also complained that several of the new Bill's provisions raise substantial questions and ambi- guities with regard to their application, including measures to be taken in case of their infringement. GRECO had already called on the Maltese author- ities to cover issues such as revolving doors and gifts in a revised Code of Conduct, back in 2014. But the latest compliance report notes that the Code of Conduct appended to the draft Bill, was not changed from the one in existence at the time of the Fourth Round Evaluation Report carried out in 2014. The report issued from March before the start of the electoral campaign reports that the Maltese au- thorities "foresee that the bill on standards in public life will be approved by the end of 2017". But after the election the PM announced that the debate on the bill was scheduled to start again in parliament before the summer recess. JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has declared that five new storeys on the 16-storey tower be- ing built on the site of the former United Garage in Gzira, will have no impact on views of Valletta. In May 2016, less than a year after they got approval for the 16-storey tower, ADMG Estates Ltd applied for the addition of eight new sto- reys, a proposal later downscaled to five. But the photomontages submit- ted by the developers have revealed the massive visual impact of both the 21-storey tower in progress, and the already approved yet unde- veloped 33-storey Metropolis de- velopment on Testaferrata Street. The developers presented visuals of both the proposed development from Valletta, Sliema, Manoel Is- land, Gzira and Ta' Xbiex and also of the cumulative impact of their project and the Metropolis devel- opment. Other proposed high-rises in the area, like the one proposed on the Golden Harvest site and on the Wembley ice cream factory, are not included in the photomontages. The photomontages include both 50mm single-frame and 75mm single-frame images to provide a realistic impression of scale and distance, in contrast to photomon- tages taken using the 25mm wide- angles submitted by the developers of the Mriehel towers, which was approved by the Planning Author- ity in September. According to the Superintendent for Cultural Heritage, the photo- montages do not indicate a nega- tive visual impact (of the five ad- ditional storeys) when viewed from these locations. The Superintendence also re- quested an additional photomon- tage, which shows that there will be no visual impact of the proposed new floors on the views and vistas of Valletta's profile and skyline when viewed from the direction of Fort St Angelo, Birgu. But the photomontages show that the 21-storey tower will dominate views from the Strand, dwarfing the nearby church. The United Ga- rage tower will also be very visible Gifts and revolving doors should be included in MPs' code of conduct SALES EXECUTIVES MediaToday is a media company involved in the publication of newspapers, magazines and TV programmes. These include MaltaToday, Illum, Gourmet Today, Xtra and Dwarna. Vacancies have arisen for sales executives. Experience in the sale of advertising space is an asset. Candidates for the job must be assertive, outgoing and in possession of a driving license. Only selected applicants will be summoned for an interview. Closing date: 14/07/2017 Please send your applications to: The Managing Editor MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016 Or email: info@mediatoday.com.mt Gzira dwarfed Malta's changing skyline