Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/955503
maltatoday SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018 4 News JAMES DEBONO A billboard that would block the views of Mdina along an arterial road in Ta' Qattara on the bound- aries of the 'silent city' is being op- posed by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. The superintendence is saying the proposed location, which is in an area of high landscape value – an area meant to safeguard Mdi- na's protected views – will inevi- tably intrude on views of Malta's old capital. The Superintendence urged the Planning Authority "to safeguard the natural and cultural land- scape" and refuse the application. But a new legal notice introduced in February carries no list of roads or restrictions whatsoever on the number of billboards that can be placed along any of the roads. Originally a draft legal notice is- sued in April 2017 identified only a part of Triq Buqana as the sole location in the Rabat area suitable for billboards. The application for the billboard in Ta' Qattara was presented in November 2017, a short distance away from the designated area, by Byon Zammit on behalf of MAD Ltd. Under the new billboard rules, the PA will have to consider the presence of "features of environ- mental, architectural or historic interest in the vicinity". Billboards where a strategic view would be interrupted are not considered "appropriate", in the words of the new rules. And yet both Transport Malta and the Environment and Re- sources Authority gave their go- ahead. The same company is also pro- posing another controversial billboard in Dawret il-Mellieha, where the Superintendence is Billboard mayhem endangering Mdina views MATTHEW VELLA THE software used to certify Mal- tese houses' energy performance broke down in 2007, causing a sus- pension of the certification system that had consequences for house vendors. An Ombudsman's investigation revealed that the Building Regula- tion Office could not certify houses' energy efficiency certification, be- cause between 2007 and 2011 it had problems with software that caused the suspension of the EPC scheme. But when the resources ministry in 2009 decided to enforce the rules, the responsibility for providing the EPC was placed on developers who had applied for a development per- mit after January 2009. This led to a complaint from a property vendor who, eight years after having sold his property, was asked by the BRO to submit an en- ergy performance certificate on the building he had sold. He contended that demanding such a certificate when the building could have undergone alterations and refurbishment, was unjust and unreasonable, especially since the certificate would not necessarily re- flect the state of the property at the time of the sale. Additionally, there was never any indication on the impact the rules might have had on property owners who had sold their property. And no information campaign alerted the general public as to the wide-rang- ing implications of the EPC rules. As a result, owners who sold their property were unaware of the obli- gations imposed by the regulations. "Even if they had been aware, it would have been impossible to observe the regulations until the end of 2010, as the system was not functioning," the Ombudsman said, who found the complaint to be jus- tified as property vendors were be- ing treated unjustly once the failure of the system prevented them from submitting an EPC at the time of the sale. The BRO told the Ombudsman it was prepared to accept present-day certificates even though the prop- erty transfer had taken place years back. But the Ombudsman said that pre- vious owners were not in position to guarantee that they would be able provide an EPC as they had no ac- cess rights over the property. The BRO was criticised for issuing such demands under the penalty of fines for non-compliance. "The delay in implementing the regulations could also have been due to a lack of resources, and it was recommended that the BRO be provided with adequate resources to undertake its obligations efficiently, in view of the important role that it played in the implementation of energy performance Directives and Regulations," the Ombudsman said. The BRO stated that they would be seeking to obtain the EPC from the purchaser and not from the vendor. Software fiasco penalised house vendors over energy certification Mizzi refuses to reveal Projects Malta CEO contract in parliament MATTHEW VELLA THE tourism minister is refusing to reveal details on a Projects Malta subsidiary and its CEO's re- muneration package in parliament. Now in his new role as good governance spokes- person, the former Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil got no joy from minister Konrad Mizzi (pic- tured), whose secret Panama company revealed in the Panama Papers is the subject of an ongoing magisterial inquiry instigated by a complaint from Busuttil. In various PQs he filed over the tourism minis- try's public-private partnership arm Projects Mal- ta, Busuttil got little or no replies on the people running the subsidiary Projects Plus. The same ministry has refused a Freedom of Information request from The Times of Malta to give details on projects that Projects Plus is working on, say- ing that it "may be contrary to public interest". In PQs filed by Busuttil, who also re- quested for CEO James Camenu- zli's contract of employment, the minister replied that the contract of employment bound both parties with "reciprocal confidential- ity". In another question requesting who the members of the Pro- jects Malta board are and what their con- ditions of work are, Mizzi also refused to table their contract of employment. "Projects Malta is run by an executive chairman whose em- ployment is contractual." Mizzi also used this standard reply for several other PQs filed by Busuttil on the same entity. Camenzuli, an engineer by profession, was ap- pointed chairman of the Malta Resources Author- ity in 2013 as well as CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services. He has since resigned from both positions and is now executive chairman of Pro- jects Malta. Projects Plus is run by Camenzuli and William Wait, the non-executive chairman of Malta Enter- prise and group director of the private corpora- tion Toly Products. The Projects Malta board of directors includes Transport Malta executive chairman James Pisco- po, Malta Gaming Authority executive chairman Joseph Cuschieri, finance ministry permanent secretary Alfred Camilleri, and Malta Enter- prise CEO Mario Galea. The company secre- tary is lawyer Aron Mifsud Bonnici, who holds the same position in various other government companies such as ARMS, Enemalta and its var- ious subsidiaries, as well as the hold- ing company and subsidiaries of the General Workers Union. Projects Malta has been the en- tity responsible for various pri- vatisation and land devolution deals, such as the Vitals Global Healthcare hospital conces- sion and the sale of land in St George's Bay to the DB Group for the construction of a high- rise hotel and luxury residence. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt