Government given four months to pay €1.35 million for expropriated land in Gzira
Government has been given four months to pay €1.35 million to a company which lost property by expropriation in Gzira.
8 November 2012, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
The company had contested governments offer of 280,000 for the land, and contested that its value exceeded 1.3 million.
Government has been given four months to pay €1.35 million to a company which lost property by expropriation in Gzira.
In a judgment handed by Magistrate Giovanni Grixti, presiding over the Lands Arbitration Board, government was ordered to pay €1.35 million in compensation to S. Mifsud & Sons Limited, who had 1,276 square metres of land in Gzira expropriated by government in 2010.
The company had contested government's offer of €280,000 for the land, and contested that its value exceeded €1.3 million.
While the company architects submitted a report to explain that the land was in a prime, central location, it also had the potential of being developed into residential blocks, which could yield more in value once developed.
The members who sit with Magistrate Grixti on the Lands Arbitration Board - also architects - agreed to the value of €1.35 million to be paid in compensation.
Besides establishing compensation, the board also ordered government to pay interest.
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It is strange may be they are doing this because the Go v did not give them the raise.
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Isn't it strange how, recently, Government seems to be always on the losing side in material court cases involving large sums payable out of national coffers? Would this, in effect, create a negative precedent for incoming Governments extremely sort of cash flow?
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And this is only the beginning. Wait till the courts start hearings on all the requisitioned (confiscated)properties by the government going back to the early seventies. Yes,for those of you unaware, the government took over all the empty properties, including my father's, and most of the time put their constituents in those properties for low rent. In our case it was 19 Maltese Liri a year and stayed that way till 2007 when the courts raised the rent to 185 euros a year, yes a year. The sad part is that we, the siblings cannot get our property back until two generations of these squatters die or go away thanks to the archaic laws enacted by this government. The government taketh away and the government must giveth back. The Government should not be above the law.
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This is seriously good news! This plot of land was selected by the government - following a meticulous search of 1 plot - as the site for construction of the new University of Fiscal Management. Glad that construction can now begin!
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BANG. Thanks to GonziPN, the taxpayer is hit once again.
