The green whistleblower

Abstract

It is high time for Cabinet to unfreeze the legislation proposed by Environment Minister George Pullicino, by virtue of which no more ODZ illegal developments would be sanctioned. This would put a stop to the current abuse, through which perpetrators of illegal developments are asked to sanction their misdemeanor rather than removing it first. Such a move would contribute to eliminate the loophole to which most perpetrators of illegal development resort and, besides, such legislation was promised over a year ago, when it helped propel the scheme rationalisation proposals. If Cabinet is not ready for such a long-overdue move, then it should publish the names of those MPs who are blocking this legislation and the Prime Minister should request, as he did for the rationalisation exercise, that all Cabinet members publicly state that they are not impeded by any conflicts of interest. Opposition to such legislation is also coming from a few architects, concerned that their workload would be drastically reduced if Cabinet draws the curtains on the ODZ sanctioning procedure.