Motorsport: No role for Environment Authority in site selection

No role is envisioned for the new Environment Authority in the selection process for the new motorsport racecourse, after a call for expression of interest was issued on Tuesday.

“Your questions regarding the new proposed Environment Authority are somewhat hypothetical since the Authority has not even yet been set up,” a spokesperson for Brincat replied when asked whether the EA will have any role in the selection process.

The establishment of the Environment Authority is imminent, awaiting final approval from parliament after parliamentary discussion on the MEPA demerger laws was finalised before the summer recess.

When presenting the demerger bill in parliament in July Brincat had promised that “the government would ensure that the authority was a stakeholder in decisive national processes”. 

Brincat had also warned “an extra day without a demerger was not in the interest of the environment”.  The fact that the authority still has to be set up is now being used as an excuse for its absence in the selection process for what could be a major test for the government’s environmental credentials. 

Moreover, Leo Brincat was tight-lipped when asked whether he agreed with the government’s decision not to exclude bids which would propose land outside development zones. “The decision to issue an EOI for a motor sports race course was taken at a government level in line with government’s electoral commitment,” his spokesperson replied.

In its manifesto the Labour party simply promised “to evaluate seriously a racetrack for motorsport” and promised to involve “stakeholders” in the “identification of a site”, “possibly with private sector” investment. Instead of identifying the site following consultation with stakeholders, the government has simply decided to choose from sites proposed by the private sector.

Brincat failed to answer MaltaToday’s question on whether it would have been more appropriate for MEPA to identify adequate sites before the issue of an expression of interest.

This is the second time that environmental experts are not being involved in the site identification of a controversial project that requires a large amount of land. The initial selection process for the site of the American University of Malta was conducted by the MEPA chief executive’s office without any involvement of MEPA’s Environment Directorate.

In an introduction to the call for expression of interest published on the privatisation’s unit website, bidders are informed that in their bids they have “to ensure that the development taking place respects and adheres to the Natura 2000 directive and other sustainable development directives if applicable”.