Graffitti warns landowners of ‘worthless’ compensation agreements offered by roads agency

Graffitti wants an investigation into the manner by which Infrastructure Malta is carrying out expropriations for its road projects

Graffitti warns that compensation agreements offered by Infrastructure Malta for expropriation of land are legally worthless since the law states that the process has to be handled by the Lands Authority
Graffitti warns that compensation agreements offered by Infrastructure Malta for expropriation of land are legally worthless since the law states that the process has to be handled by the Lands Authority

Agreements offered to landowners by Infrastructure Malta that include a valuation of land to be expropriated for road building are legally “worthless”, Moviment Graffitti warned. 

The organisation said Infrastructure Malta was bound to follow the Lands Authority expropriation procedures and valuations had to be made by the latter agency.

However, in a bid to speed up the process, IM was reaching separate agreements with landowners affected by road construction that requires the take up of land.

“This piece of paper [offered by IM] is worthless, since the law establishes that the land will be valued by the Lands Authority and its architects, not by Infrastructure Malta. Anyone signing this paper is giving Infrastructure Malta access to their land, but there is no guarantee this agency can honour the agreed valuations, because those fall under the Lands Authority’s remit,” Graffitti warned on Monday.

It also called for an investigation into expropriations carried out by IM.

The statement came in the wake of complaints reported in the media by a farmer in Żabbar, who said that despite no compensation agreement had been reached yet, IM still went ahead and took a stretch of his land to widen the road.

Graffitti called on Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg not to mislead the public about the agreements offered by IM.

“It is not true that all landowners have signed such agreements. Borg and IM head Fredrick Azzopardi had initially refused to discuss expropriations with some Dingli landowners back in April, clearly unwilling to open what has now become a can of worms,” the group said.

Graffitti said it is getting legal advice and looking at potential legal action against the state’s roadbuilder and its CEO Fredrick Azzopardi.

“Ian Borg claims he believes in the rule of law, and so do we. So, for once we will take up his word. We are getting legal advice from our lawyers and we’ll seek to put an end to a corrupt system whereby the state, through its army of contractors, continues to steal arable land and destroy precious environmental resources to build useless roads without compensating the rightful owners,” the group said.

Graffitti asked the public to come forward with any information they may have about unpaid expropriations, and called on landowners who haven’t been compensated to contact the group via its Facebook page or by email on [email protected].

All information will be treated with the strictest confidence, the group said.