Moviment Graffitti has filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Planning Authority’s (PA) FOI Officer to demand access to all electronic communication between the PA’s CEO Martin Saliba, all members of its Executive Council, and developer Joseph Portelli.

Moviment Graffitti filed the FOI request following yet another irregular decision taken by the Planning Commission in yet another instance of bending the rules to appease Portelli’s interests.

On 9 February, the Planning Commission was set to decide on a massive application featuring 73 apartments and 60 garages in Sannat’s Ta’ Ċenċ area, which was filed by Portelli and his associates, Mark Agius and Daniel Refalo. Instead, the Planning Commission decided to ask for guidance from the PA’s Executive Council, a separate body within the PA which is not responsible for the processing of such applications.

The next hearing is now scheduled for Tuesday 1 March at noon.

Portelli and his associates were, time and time again, allowed to bend the rules in favour of their monstrous projects.

In fact, the application in the Ta’ Ċenċ area passed on to the Executive Council following insistent requests from Portelli’s architect during the hearing on 9 February, special treatment given to a piecemeal application that is only one part of a wider, much larger complex consisting of 125 apartments.

In light of the Commission’s highly irregular decision and Portelli’s track record as a developer who proudly admitted to using politicians to speed up the processes facilitating his greed, Moviment Graffitti believes it is high time the public gets to have access to all correspondence, meetings, emails and other exchanges between all members of the PA’s Executive Council and Portelli.

Moviment Graffitti has repeatedly drawn attention towards the Executive Chairperson of the PA, Martin Saliba, in particular.

Saliba, who is widely known as the former chair of the Environment Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT), was exposed as having a massive conflict of interest when it was revealed he was also an employee at the PA whilst heading a tribunal that hears cases against the PA. The same Martin Saliba now heads the PA itself, an authority which has proven to be toothless against sharks like Portelli.

To begin with, the authority already failed to heed its own case officer’s advice for the first Portelli application in Ta’ Ċenċ, approving the permit in spite of a clear recommendation for refusal.

In yet another set of piecemeal applications in Sannat, the Planning Commission once more went against recommendations for refusal of its own case officers during the hearing of the third application connected to the same project, ignoring several policy breaches in favour of churning out yet another batch of hundreds of Portelli’s apartments.

When Portelli conducted illegal excavation works in Qala’s ODZ, the PA failed to take action against a developer who had clearly breached planning laws. Also, no action seems to have been taken against extensive illegal works by Portelli right at the edge of the Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs, adjacent to his massive development in Sannat, and which is likely connected to the same project. Apartments in this project are already being advertised as having “landscaped gardens”, a worrying sign for the integrity of this ecologically sensitive site and public access to the Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs.

Faced with overwhelming evidence which shows that the authorities have failed to safeguard our land by respecting their own planning policies, Moviment Graffitti feels there is no further reason to doubt the only logical explanation: the PA takes its orders from people like Portelli, not from the people who it is supposed to protect.

We’d love to see Saliba and the rest of the Executive Council prove us otherwise.

Il-Moviment Graffitti ressaq Talba għal Informazzjoni lill-Uffiċjal tal-PA għal-Libertà tal-Informazzjoni sabiex jikseb il-komunikazzjoni elettronika kollha bejn is-CEO tal-PA Martin Saliba, il-membri tal-Kunsill Eżekuttiv u l-iżviluppatur Joseph Portelli.

Il-Moviment Graffitti ressaq it-Talba għal Informazzjoni wara deċiżjoni irregolari oħra li ħadet il-Kummissjoni tal-Ippjanar li hija eżempju ċar ieħor ta’ kif qegħdin jinkisru r-regoli sabiex jiġu aġevolati l-interessi ta’ Portelli.

Fid-9 ta’ Frar, il-Kummissjoni tal-Ippjanar kellha tiddeċiedi dwar applikazzjoni massiva li ressqu Portelli u sħabu, Mark Agius u Daniel Refalo, għal 73 appartament u 60 garaxx fl-inħawi ta’ Ta’ Ċenċ fis-Sannat. Minflok ħadet deċiżjoni, il-Kummissjoni tal-Ippjanar talbet il-gwida tal-Kunsill Eżekuttiv tal-PA, korp separat fi ħdan il-PA li mhuwiex responsabbli għall-ipproċessar ta’ tali applikazzjonijiet.

Is-seduta li jmiss hija skedata għat-Tlieta 1 ta’ Marzu f’nofsinhar.

Portelli u sħabu qegħdin jitħallew ikomplu jiksru r-regoli għall-gwadann tal-proġetti mostrużi tagħhom.

Fil-fatt, waqt is-seduta tad-9 ta’ Frar, l-applikazzjoni għal bini fiż-żona ta’ Ta’ Ċenċ għaddiet għand il-Kunsill Eżekuttiv fuq talbiet insistenti mill-perit ta’ Portelli. Huwa ċar li din l-applikazzjoni frammentata, li hija biss biċċa waħda minn proġett għal kumpless ta’ 125 appartament, qegħda tingħata trattament speċjali.

Fid-dawl tad-deċiżjoni ferm irregolari tal-Kummissjoni u t-tattiċi ripetuti tal-iżviluppatur Portelli, li kburi jammetti li juża l-politiċi biex iħaffef proċessi li jiffaċilitaw ir-regħba tiegħu, il-Moviment Graffitti jemmen li wasal iż-żmien li l-pubbliku jara kull korrispondenza dwar laqgħat, l-ittri elettroniċi u skambji oħra bejn il-membri kollha tal-Kunsill Eżekuttiv tal-PA u Portelli.

Il-Moviment Graffitti spiss ġibed l-attenzjoni lejn iċ-Chairperson Eżekuttiv tal-PA, Martin Saliba.

Saliba, li kien imexxi t-Tribunal ta’ Reviżjoni tal-Ambjent u l-Ippjanar (EPRT), huwa magħruf għall-kunflitt ta’ interess kbir li daħal fih meta ħareġ li filwaqt li kien imexxi Tribunal li jisma’ każijiet kontra l-PA, kien fil-fatt impjegat tal-PA stess. L-istess Martin Saliba llum imexxi l-PA, awtorità li wriet bosta drabi li hija bla sinsla fil-konfront tar-regħba ta’ żviluppaturi bħal Portelli.

L-awtorità diġà naqset milli tagħti widen għall-parir tal-uffiċjal responsabbli mill-każ fuq l-ewwel applikazzjoni Portelli f’Ta’ Ċenċ. Hija approvat dan il-permess minkejja rakkomandazzjoni ċara għal rifjut.

F’każ ieħor marbut ma’ din l-applikazzjoni oħra maqsuma f’biċċiet għal bini fis-Sannat, il-Kummissjoni tal-Ippjanar, waqt is-smigħ tat-tielet applikazzjoni, marret kontra r-rakkomandazzjonijiet għal rifjut tal-uffiċjali tagħha stess u b’hekk injorat ukoll il-ksur tal-politiki favur il-ħruġ ta’ permess għal mijiet ta’ appartamenti ta’ Portelli.

Meta Portelli wettaq xogħlijiet ta’ tħaffir illegali f’ODZ fil-Qala, nafu sew li l-PA ma ħaditx azzjoni kontra żviluppatur li ċarament kiser il-liġijiet tal-ippjanar. Jidher li lanqas ma ttieħdet azzjoni kontra massa ta’ xogħlijiet illegali ta’ Portelli f’tarf l-irdumijiet Ta’ Ċenċ u biswit l-iżvilupp massiv tiegħu fis-Sannat, li x’aktarx marbut mal-istess proġett. Fil-fatt, l-appartamenti ta’ dan il-proġett diġà qegħdin jiġu reklamati bħala “appartamenti bil-ġonna”, sinjal inkwetanti għall-integrità ta’ sit ekoloġiku sensittiv u l-aċċess tal-pubbliku għall-irdumijiet ta’ Ta’ Ċenċ.

Fid-dawl ta’ din l-evidenza kollha tal-mod kif l-awtoritajiet naqsu milli jħarsu l-art tagħna billi jirrispettaw il-politika tal-ippjanar tagħhom stess, il-Moviment Graffitti jemmen li l-unika spjegazzjoni loġika għal dan l-aġir hija waħda: li l-PA tieħu l-ordnijiet tagħha mingħand nies bħal Portelli u mhux mill-poplu li suppost tipproteġi.

Nixtiequ naraw lil Saliba u lill-kumplament tal-Kunsill Eżekuttiv juruna mod ieħor.