Government to revise local plans, consider Mepa fees

The government will announce the composition of the new Mepa board in the coming days, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Michael Farrugia said this afternoon. Speaking at a meeting with the Malta Developers’ Association, Dr Farrugia said the government was planning a revision of the local plans, hoping this revision would be complete by the end of next year when the separation of Mepa’s planning and environment functions will also take place. MDA president Michael Falzon said that after many of the association’s proposals were included in the (PL) electoral programme, the association had wanted to meet the government to see how these proposals were going to be implemented. He requested that one of the new Mepa board members would be a developer so that the board could have direct input of how the sector operated. Dr Farrugia replied that this suggestion would be considered. The association's deputy president Sandro Chetcuti, called for a substantial reduction of Mepa development fees “with immediate effect”. The minister said the fees were being “evaluated”.