The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has told the Planning Authority to not approve the requested sanctioning of illegal work on private property carried out as part of the years-long rebuilding of the main road leading to Nadur, Triq l-Imgarr.
The National Audit Office (NAO) is investigating the possible abuse of public funds, including alleged misappropriation, in connection with work carried out on private properties allegedly through public funds dedicated to the road project.
The ERA has now objected to the sanctioning of a new reservoir, high rubble walls and a wide concrete ramp on private agricultural land, which, according to the applicant’s own architect, were carried out as part of the road project.
New photographs comparing the new rubble wall surrounding the private property to the original also show how the work carried out by the Gozo Ministry was not only illegal but the wall’s height was more than doubled – blocking views and described by the ERA as having a negative visual impact on its surroundings.
New photographs comparing the rubble wall in 2016 and 2022 show how the Gozo Ministry more than doubled its height and created an eyesore.
ERA has told the PA that the requested sanctioning could not be granted if the concrete ramp, allegedly built with public funds, is not removed.
In a somewhat abnormal update to the application, the PA is now terming the state of the planning application as having no status at all.
According to the Planning Authority, the sanctioning application now has no status.
Earlier this year the NAO started an investigation into The Shift’s reports indicating that work on rural parcels of land adjacent to the new Nadur road was carried out at the same time as the road’s construction with the same machinery and contractor – Road Construction Ltd –in a potential abuse of public funds.
Photographic evidence published by The Shift showed many illegal works on private property taking place during the various phases of the road’s construction. These included rubble walls, concrete ramps, small agricultural stores and even water reservoirs.
While the Gozo Ministry vehemently denied that the private work was financed by the funds dedicated to the road project, it failed to explain how the road’s final price had soared to €13.6 million from the original €8 million estimate – a difference of over €5.5 million – and the Gozo Ministry is still receiving bills.
The road project began in 2018 and finishing works are still ongoing.
More work on private property that allegedly took place while the road was being reconstructed, circled in black.
Following these revelations, independent politician Arnold Cassola asked the NAO to commence an investigation into the possible misuse of public funds.
The Shift also revealed documents, in which the owner of one of the fields adjacent to the road works admitted that the construction of a reservoir and a ramp in his field were carried out “as part of the road widening project”.
The application has now been recommended for refusal by the Planning Authority but a date has not been set for a hearing.
Much ado about nothing
Much ado about nothing!!? Sbieh dawk l hitan ehh! Hallina!
Do you mean that things done illegally eye sores and all that is wrong is much ado about nothing. No surprise our country has gone to the dogs with people like you thinking this way, Why any finger in the Pie?
Prosit ghidlu! Bicca eyesore bhal dik u much ado about nothing! X poplu! No wonder bhal ma ktibt inti li pajjizna gungla w mizbla ma kullimkien!
The E.R.A. and all law-abiding men can be as concerned as much as they like. They can also go to hell, if they so wish.
But they should know for sure that the Gozo people who are behind all this do not give a dry fig for anybody’s concern. Nor, one could reasonably presume, will they make the slightest move to correct matters, if matters can somehow be corrected.
That’s the way things go in some parts of the globe.
If their architect new that it was illegal he should loose his warrant and pay the consequences, even the owner of the land should pay for the abuse and who ever helped him to get what he wanted from our coffers.
Because this is happening very often and from now on if someone likes something in the street like an old mile stone and take it home cannot face any charges because a Minister has done it and no one forced him to put it back so history is going to repeat itself .What a shame.