In the Media

The Times
21st June, 2006

Ramla permit - Government 'will not interfere'

The government said yesterday it did not believe it should interfere in the issue regarding the granting of a permit for the development of a tourist complex on the site of the Ulysses Lodge at Ramla l-Ħamra in Gozo.

However, it said it reserved the right to decide whether to launch an inquiry at a later stage into the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's decision to issue the permit.

The government was reacting to media reports on a call for an inquiry.

The environmental organisation Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar has said that the only thing the Environment Minister and Prime Minister could do to confirm their environmental credibility was to order an inquiry.

In its statement, the government said these reports and the request for the inquiry failed to consider one important fact - that the Ulysses Lodge had been there since the 1970s and that further development was approved when Mepa processed the outline application on July 7, 2005.

Last week's decision by Mepa did not change any of the principles agreed in 2005, it said.

The government said that the process that had led to the approval of the outline application had already been investigated by the auditor and this investigation was documented in a report dated February 2, 2006. This report had not found any irregularities but raised points that had already been addressed.