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Updated | After hunters’ agreement, Muscat courts Armier’s illegal squatters
Labour leader targets controversial hunting and boathouse lobbies in last-minute agreements.
7 March 2013, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
3 min read
Updated at 5:25pm with OPM statement
Labour leader Joseph Muscat has reached an agreement with the lobby representing the owners of illegal boathouses at Armier Bay, in a flipside of the 2008 electoral agreement last reached with Lawrence Gonzi.
After having hammered out a 'memorandum of understanding' with the hunters lobby FKNK, the Labour Party has "reconfirmed" an agreement originally reached in 2002 with Labour MP Joe Mizzi, with Armier Developments Ltd.
The company represents the owners of the Armier boathouses, which were illegally constructed by its owners as summer boathouses and that has now mushroomed into a small village.
Company director Tarcisio Barbara confirmed with MaltaToday that the Armier squatters met Muscat both during 2012 and 2013.
He also said that talks with Muscat have been going on since the Labour leader was still a member of the European Palriament.
Barbara said Muscat had confirmed the 2002 agreement in its entirety and nothing has been changed. He also lamented that the 2008 agreement with the PN had not been honoured by government and from the "25 letters" they sent to the PN they only received one reply in 2009.
"Since then, the PN never spoke to us again," Barbara complained.
Muscat had already hinted that an agreement with ADL would be reached, but the 2002 agreement would mean that beach rooms will replace the old boathouses, and offering 1,000 rooms for use only during the summer.
In a statement, the government said that it had addressed this situation and was preparing various proposals to discuss with ADL. "Up until now, no proposal reached the level desired by government and all were refused and none of them discussed with the association. The government will observe the commitments it took on the Armier boathouses, which is why every decision will be taken after discussions with those who are involved, towards a just solution."
On 20 April, 2008 MaltaToday revealed that 19 days before the general election, and just five days after announcing he was taking over responsibility for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to redress the country's "environmental deficit", Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had written to the Armier squatters promising to legalise their seaside shanty-town six months after being re-elected.
Gonzi also informed Tarcisio Barbara - the President of Armier Developments Ltd - that he had written to then MEPA chairman Andrew Calleja to inform him on the position of the government on this issue.
Gonzi also promised the boathouse owners that following MEPA's approval of the project, the government would present a resolution in parliament through which public land in Armier would be passed through "a title of temporary emphyteusis" to the Armier boathouse owners. That would have meant handing over 230 tumuli of public land in Armier to Armier Developments Ltd. The land was to be leased for 65 years against the payment of Lm157,000 a year. This would amount to just Lm100 a year for each boathouse owner, the boathouse owners' newsletter claimed. The agreement also included a provision for the building of 500 new units "reserved for persons who are not presently occupying any boathouse in the area."
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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Dear Sagitarius, its hilarious you mentioning the lack of a code of ethics by the PN and yet overlook the cheap tactics of Mr. Muscat, whose been extremely active trading concessions for votes. The opposition leader has not even stepped into Castille and yet he has already drawn up a Yalta plan with allies made up of the Armier Squatters and the hunting lobby. Code of ethics indeed. Decorating the HQs in MileEnd and Pieta with red lamps in the window would be more indicative of the art of politics being presently practiced.
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@ Alex Condorado: I assure you I am not a PN commentator. But I am still utterly disgusted at how PL has done these clandestine negotiations with criminal squatters and spring the news the day before the blackout. Too late for debate but in time for vote buying - Revolting!
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Ilhom tant jigu ttollerati mill-Gvern Nazzjonalista mhux l-istess dan tahom cens perpetwu hemm. Hallihom jghixu hemm fl-illegalita` ghal hafna snin u m'ghamel xejn. Id-dawl u l-ilma minn ippermettihulom ghal dawn is-snin kollha mhux il-gvern? Ara veru ma tafux tisthu biex issa qed titkazaw. Bil-President Emeritus jindirizza meeting ta' partit u jikser il-kodici tal-etika ma tkazajtux illum?
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Cannot beleive how the Nationalists comment about Armier. It has taken 25 years of PN governenment and the Armier aquatters still there. So what surprises these PN commentators. At least they will not end up as a showtime piece like the when action was taken at Sliema after the election when the law enforcement removed the chairs and tables from the pavement and then some weeks later they invaded the pavements again. That is a serious government. Come on :) stop being negative because if the PN did something during these last 5 years is that they had an increase in salary (from behind our backs) and took the longest holidays. At least there are no hidden 'agreements' reltated to oil that pollutes our environemnt.
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So who says crime (common theft) doesn't pay?
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This is all last minute political gibberish at best. "The company represents the owners of the Armier boathouses, which were ILLEGALLY CONSTRUCTED by its owners." What company? And did you happen to read the words in caps spelling "ILLEGALLY CONSTRUCTED". Since when did the word ILLEGAL become legal or "maybe legal?" Why not drop the whole thing and move on like both parties usually do. I for one do not see anything illegal about these shanty boathouses and the reason is that if you look closely you can see the Utility poles and I guarantee you there are underground water pipes supplying water to the premises and some also have sewer systems to accommodate toilets. I can also guarantee you that most of these boathouses have electricity and water meters to account for the utilities used so they can pay the Government owned Utility Companies. If in doubt look for yourself. So let us cut out the crap and go on to the next election for this problem to show up, after all it does before every election. and everything stays the same. I agree on one thing and that is to organize this hullabaloo maze of shanties and make them look decent and somewhat organized, after all Maltese citizens deserve a boathouse by the beach. Go out and vote.
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Is this the same Tarcisio Barbara which was in the news lately?,oil and so on,just asking.
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Anticipated this move in an earlier comment which basically confirms my impression of this gentleman's way of wheeling & dealing. Suggest we start calling the Armier township by the name of Muscatville in his honor. Sorry Mr. Gonzi, you missed out on this one.
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Looks a lot like last-minute 'vote buying' to me -- at the expense, of course, of the law abiding citizen and taxpayer!
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Looks a lot like last-minute 'vote buying' to me -- at the expense, of course, of the law abiding citizen and taxpayer!
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Qed nara kif sejrin jispiccaw dawn il-pjagi/problemi, kemm ta' l-Armier u kemm tal-kaccaturi jekk jitla il-PL. Jaghatihom li jridu tant li Malta kollha titheggeg biex tiffirma petizzjoni biex isir referendum fuq it-tnejn u ma jghaddix. Mitt elf firma jigbru fi zmien gimgha kemm il-Birdlife u kemm tal-ambjent u hekk Jos. Mus.ikun solvihom kif ried hu u rebah il-voti.
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If this is the kind of "change" we can expect from Labour, then they can keep it. And they are not even in government yet..... OMG.
