Development on INDIS land needs a 'no objection' from agency: PA new rule
Applications lacking clearance by INDIS will be deemed incomplete by PA
Any proposed development on land administered by INDIS will, from now on, require a clearance letter from the government agency confirming there are no objections from its end.
INDIS is tasked with overseeing industrial estates. In the past, it was combined with Malta Enterprise into what was known as the Malta Development Corporation.
Among the estates it oversees, INDIS recently came under fire when it allowed land in Corradino to be allocated to the developers whose faulty building killed Jean Paul Sofia.
According to a public inquiry, Malta Enterprise and INDIS should never have allowed land in Corradino to be allocated to the developers.
The developers wanted to build a five-storey furniture factory at the site and applied for land at the Corradino Industrial Estate to do so.
Malta Enterprise approved the project in May 2019, and INDIS signed over the site to the developers in February 2020.
The developers’ proposal was “objectively lacking in every respect”, the board of inquiry had concluded.
On Wednesday, a Planning Authority's circular introduced a new mandatory requirement for planning applications on land administered by INDIS.
Applicants must now obtain a formal clearance letter confirming no objection in principle before submitting any full development, outline development, or removal-of-danger application.
Applications lacking this clearance will be deemed incomplete by the authority.
The PA in a statement encouraged all applicants, architects, and stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the updated guidance to ensure smoother processing of applications.