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James Debono
Just a few weeks after infrastructure minister Ninu Zammit inaugurated a new promenade project at Wied Babu, in the limits of Zurrieq, the planning authority’s auditor Joe Falzon has issued another damning report on the works, lambasting the Works Department for ignoring 13 recommendations made by the Environment Protection Directorate.
The auditor’s latest report came in the wake of reports that the Works Division was preparing to start works on the second part of the project, despite lacking the necessary permits.
According to the Auditor’s report the application to carry out the embellishment works is still pending as the case officer is awaiting a response from the Works Division.
The area in question also forms part of a special conservation area, which means MEPA must ensure no harm is done to the site during such activities of embellishment.
But the Works Division has ignored 13 detailed recommendations sent to it back in August by the environment protection directorate. The auditor wrote in his report that MEPA had to be vigilant to ensure no works are carried out on the site, given that the Works Division is “already preparing the mobilisation of its labour force on site.” Engines belonging to the department were already depositing material on the site.
This is the not the first time the auditor has lambasted the Works Division. In his annual report he censored it for failing to follow an approved permit for the upgrading of the walkway at Wied Babu. “The permit should not have been issued in the first place in its present format as it is in breach of the EU’s Habitats Directive,” the report said.
Falzon also said it was carrying out illegal development in Bormla when the application was still being processed by MEPA. The report stated that “the issue of enforcement is ridiculed when it is government departments which flout the law.”
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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