After court case, MEPA tweaks Ghaxaq height limits and Piju Camilleri gets six penthouses

The removal of a heights ban on a particular land parcel in Ghaxaq, has led the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to issue a permit for six penthouses in the ‘Tal-Millieri’ residential block, owned by P & J.C. Co. Ltd – whose shareholder includes the former Lorry Sant aide, Piju Camilleri.

The planning application was submitted by director Ludwig Camilleri, who was represented in MEPA hearings by architect Charles Buhagiar, the Labour MP and chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council. 

No penthouses were allowed on this site after this parcel of land was included in an extension of development zones by the previous administration in 2006.

But the blanket ban on penthouses was removed by the MEPA board in July following a public consultation, during which the Ghaxaq council objected to the heights level allowing for penthouses.

After Camilleri’s land was controversially included in the 2006 rationalisation, his company sought a permit for 48 residential units on the former agricultural area, including 47 basement and semi-basement garages, and two shops.

The 2006 local plan permitted three-storey and penthouse development in this particular area of Ghaxaq, a village until then characterised by two-storey dwellings. But under the rationalization exercise, the 2006 Cabinet criteria restricted heights in these formerly ‘outside-development-zones’ to be lower than that of neighbouring properties, to soften the impact on the edge of the development zone edge.

And in October 2008, the minister for planning wrote to MEPA recommending a two-storey limit on sites added to development boundaries through the rationalization exercise: this policy was adopted by the MEPA board and applied to all sites affected by the rationalization exercise.

Indeed, in November 2008 MEPA proposed a two-floor limit on the land owned by Camilleri. But following protests by the owner, this was revised to three floors, with a clause introduced to ensure that no penthouses be developed on this site.
In this way, the development would still be lower than adjacent buildings, as suggested in the policy direction given by the previous government.

Change of policy in 2013

In December 2009, Camilleri filed a court case against MEPA claiming that the policy against penthouse development on his property was “abusive and discriminatory”, which he later dropped in September 2013 when an agreement between the two parties was reached.

In January 2014, a public consultation was initiated to change the policy again to allow the development of penthouses on the same site.

A case officer’s report on the proposed policy change states that over the past few years, MEPA has “consistently applied” the board’s direction that new buildings on formerly ODZ plots included in the 2006 development boundaries, be of the same height as neighbouring buildings, or lower.

But the same report concludes that the application to allow penthouses on Camilleri’s land should be assessed on “its own merits” and be based on the present government’s decision to allow penthouses in this area.

The report also refers to an objector’s submission, who claimed the relaxation of building heights discriminated against other Ghaxaq property owners.

The objector demanded MEPA to state whether the new policy signified a change in policy for all 2006 rationalisation sites.


The MEPA board approved the new policy on July 3, and a permit for six new penthouses issued two weeks ago.

Camilleri is presently contesting a newly issued MEPA policy that bans ODZ cemeteries, due to his interest in building a cemetery on land between Attard and Rabat. The policy regulating the extension of existing cemeteries is expected to be approved in the next weeks. Camilleri has also applied for the construction of an ODZ petrol station at Is-Salini along the coast road.

As a ‘works manager’ with the late Lorry Sant during the 1980s, Camilleri was an influential figure within the Planning Areas Permits Board, the body that issued building permits, and the precursor to the formal planning regime of MEPA. According to businessman Joe Borg’s testimony before the Permanent Commission against Corruption presided by Mr Justice Victor Borg Costanzi, Camilleri, with Sant’s blessing, used to request plots of land and money in return for granting building permits to individual contractors.