Malta is a country in Europe. Attard is a posh, high class town right in the middle of this country. A family have an area of land situated about 150m (500 feet) from the presidential palace. The value of this land would be enormous if it could be developed. Imagine how much land with building permits would cost if it were just 500 feet from the White House in the USA, Buckingham palace in London or any official presidential residence anywhere in the world.
The son of this family, Norbert, is employed by the Maltese Department of Works. This department made a formal request that the Department of Lands requisition part of the land owned by the family. In Malta, only the Department of Lands is vested with the authority to requisition land or release it and therefore all other government entities must forward requests to it. In 1992, the Maltese Government requisitioned part of the land owned by the family.
In 2005, the Maltese Department of Works (the department that employs the son of the family) made a formal request to the Department of Lands to release the chunk of land it had originally requisitioned. Even though families were now living adjacent to the requisitioned area, no one was consulted.
Once the government had released the land, the family attempted to apply for a permit so that a considerable part of the area originally earmarked as a road be built up. What the family failed to realise that since road contributions had been paid, those having property on the land had to be informed. The cat was out of the bag.
All attempts to gain access to the file have proved futile. Mr Ray Farrugia, Director General of the Project Design and Implementation Department at the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs never granted access to the file. Once this file is made public, interested parties can learn the hows and whys behind the original application and, subsequently, the instruction to release the land. One could, with the complete and unaltered file, decipher why no one was consulted when the decision to release the land was taken and the rate at which events to process applications took place compared to other similar applications.
The son of this family, Norbert, is employed by the Maltese Department of Works. This department made a formal request that the Department of Lands requisition part of the land owned by the family. In Malta, only the Department of Lands is vested with the authority to requisition land or release it and therefore all other government entities must forward requests to it. In 1992, the Maltese Government requisitioned part of the land owned by the family.
In 2005, the Maltese Department of Works (the department that employs the son of the family) made a formal request to the Department of Lands to release the chunk of land it had originally requisitioned. Even though families were now living adjacent to the requisitioned area, no one was consulted.
Once the government had released the land, the family attempted to apply for a permit so that a considerable part of the area originally earmarked as a road be built up. What the family failed to realise that since road contributions had been paid, those having property on the land had to be informed. The cat was out of the bag.
All attempts to gain access to the file have proved futile. Mr Ray Farrugia, Director General of the Project Design and Implementation Department at the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs never granted access to the file. Once this file is made public, interested parties can learn the hows and whys behind the original application and, subsequently, the instruction to release the land. One could, with the complete and unaltered file, decipher why no one was consulted when the decision to release the land was taken and the rate at which events to process applications took place compared to other similar applications.