[WATCH] Reworked Paceville masterplan will not be published before elections

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The revised Paceville masterplan might not be ready for publication before the next general election, and the Planning Authority was still working on a batch of tenders to issue with relation to the project, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Deborah Schembri told MaltaToday.

“There is no intention on the side of the government to hinder or stop the process, but - as also pointed by all interested parties – we realise it is better to take as long as necessary but have as wide a public consultation as possible and a rigorous final plan, instead of hurrying things up to have them ready before a target date, like an election,” she said.

Schembri, who was speaking to MaltaToday on Friday after a press conference at Castille, said that the PA was still drawing up the tenders it needed to issue, including those for masterplanners, but insisted the government remained committed to seeing the Paceville masterplan process through.

“As a government, we do not distinguish between what will be ready before the election or after, and we consider instead the public good and not the timing of the next election,” she said. “We will do whatever needs to be done we will do it diligently.”

Schembri acknowledged that the process needed to take into consideration public opinion and that was why the public consultation exercise had been held in the first place.

She stressed this entire process was part of the original project.

“It was always the plan to have a first draft, followed by a public consultation process, followed by a second draft and another public consultation, so this did not come out of the blue,” Schembri said.

“To formulate an extensive masterplan for Paceville, you need a certain amount of time, but the important things is to get on with it.”