Labour slams MEPA tariffs hike as new tax for Gonzi's 'expensive car'

The chairman has justified his €93,000 salary as being akin to paying for an expensive car. Labour said the new tariffs, were confirmation that the public had to pay for “the inefficiency in Lawrence Gonzi’s government.”

“At first glance, several of these tariffs are socially unjust and will throw a burden on nobody except for Maltese and Gozitan families, and young couples. Among the hikes is a 600% increase on compliance certificates, a 1000% increase on garages, 400% on DNOs,  500% on room extensions, and €50 for MEPA advice on applications. These tariffs will affect middle and low-income earners,” Labour MP Roderick Galdes, who is also a MEPA board member as well as a MEPA employee, said.

Galdes said MEPA had found it “easy to forgive millions of euros in developers’ fees for environmental pollution and had exhausted parking contributions without any transparency... these increases come at the same time MEPA’s chairman publicly justifies his salary for being something of an “expensive car.”

Galdes added that the increase in tariffs followed MEPA’s €10 million deficit, which it compensated by using the funds developers pay into the Commuted Parking Payment Scheme, which is actually earmarked for the construction of car parks. “These tariffs will not make MEPA self-financed, as recently declared by parliamentary secretary Mario Demarco… this is just a MEPA tax, for Gonzi’s ‘expensive car’.”