12,600 ODZ applications approved since 1995

12,572 applications for development outside development zones have been approved since 1995, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

He was responding to two identical parliamentary questions by Labour MPs Silvio Parnis and Anthony Agius Agelis.

2007 saw the highest amount of application approvals (962), followed by 2002 (953) and 2005 (890). 2004 saw the greatest amount of ODZ land being signed away for development (9,287,864 metre squares), followed by 2008 (5,090,338 metre squares), and 2002 (5,396,724 metre squares).

417 applications were approved in 2014, amounting to a total of 2,075,620 metre squares. 193 applications have been approved so far this year, amounting to a total of 563,072 metre squares.

Responding to a pointed question by Agius Decelis, Muscat added that ODZ lines were reduced by 9.25 million square metres in 2005 and a futher 2.3 million square metres in 2006.