1 comment.MEPA sends out clear message on Dwejra illegal boathouses
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Yesterday, the MEPA Board refused five planning applications that sought permission to sanction illegal works pertaining to the construction or extension of works for boathouses in Dwejra. The MEPA Board cited that these illegalities were incompatible with the ecological protection of this sensitive area and went against the public interest.
MEPA said that the Board once again sent out a clear message, as it had done last year when it had refused to sanction illegalities related to a further 11 boathouse in Dwejra, that it will not tolerate the illegal abuse of land, especially in ODZ areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas.
“Moreover, the extensive reform of MEPA now prohibits the submission of a planning application which seeks to regularize illegal development in an outside development zone or a protected area carried out after May 2008, MEPA said.
In a separate planning application within the Dwejra area, the MEPA Board said it approved the change of use of a permitted summer residence into a diving shop. The Planning Directorate confirmed that this residence had been constructed prior to 1957 and the change of use was in line with the objectives of the Qawra/Dwejra Action Plan.
A further three applications for the sanctioning of illegal extensions to the existing boathouses were deferred by the Board following a request from their respective architects.
The MEPA Board also dismissed a request for the reconsideration of scheduling of a property in Pjazza Santu Wistin in Rabat, Gozo. The scheduling of this property had been approved earlier this year.
I wonder why nobody ever mentions sewage facilities down by the Inland Sea? I am aware that there are no official toilets there – except the big salty one – but have the unofficial ones, i.e. the cesspits incorporated in most of the ‘boathouses’, been sanctioned?
I assume it is necessary for a restaurant to have its own toilet facilities. I therefore ask how the sewage generated by the new restaurant-cum-information centre monstrosity is going to be pumped up to the holding tank of the present toilet facilities (which miracle of miracles are being renovated at last). As far as I am aware no pipes have been laid for this purpose.
I sincerely hope that it will not land up in the Inland Sea. Or on the fields behind the present conglomeration of shacks, thus polluting the fresh water pool and its unique flora and fauna, which among other treasures, includes exquisite maidenhair ferns.