Updated 12pm
Johann Buttigieg is set to return as CEO of Malta’s Planning Authority, six years after stepping down from the role, Times of Malta has learnt.
It is understood that Buttigieg will be expected to tackle the ever-growing backlog of planning permits, an issue developers frequently flag as their top concern.
Buttigieg, who began his career at the Planning Authority as a case officer was made the entity’s chief executive through a direct order in June 2013.
A few short months later, his designation was changed to CEO, with a pay packet that topped €100,000 annually.
Buttigieg’s tenure was marked by controversy, often plagued by accusations of conflict of interest and suspicions over his pay packet.
In 2019, Buttigieg stepped down from the role, only to be appointed CEO of the Malta Tourism Authority. He left the role three years later.
Private jets and 'doing business'
Throughout his career, Buttigieg has frequently found himself in the eye of the storm.
In 2018 Buttigieg was found to have paid €8,750 to fly a PA board member Jacqueline Gili to and from Malta by private jet on the eve a board meeting concerning the controversial db Group’s City Centre mega-development in Pembroke.
Gili, who had been enjoying a family holiday in Sicily, remained silent throughout the meeting, only to vote in favour of the project before hopping back on to the private jet back to Sicily.
Earlier in his career, while still working as a case officer, Buttigieg was found to have hid a potential conflict of interest when he was assigned to review a permit application to build the National Aquarium in 2011. The application had been filed by Adrian Buttigieg, godfather to one of Johann Buttigieg’s children and his wife’s business partner.
Buttigieg also faced flak for his relationship with Yorgen Fenech, telling the magnate in 2019 “we can do business whenever you like” after Fenech proposed a joint property deal.
By the time the pair’s relationship was revealed in 2021, Buttigieg had moved on to the MTA, sparking calls for his resignation from the tourism body.
Buttigieg had also courted controversy throughout his three-year stint in the tourism sector.
In December 2019, Buttigieg handed Konrad Mizzi an €80,000 consultancy contract, just a fortnight after Mizzi stepped down as tourism minister at the height of the 2019 political crisis.
The contract was promptly scrapped by then-Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia once the news emerged.
Planning permit backlog
The Planning Authority has been struggling to get to grips with the escalating backlog of planning permits, with developers and architects alike frequently pointing to excessive bureaucracy as the main culprit, arguing that new government entities have only served to muddy the waters.
Similar complaints about excessive red tape had marked the months leading to Buttigieg’s first stint at the helm of the PA.
One of his first decisions in the role was to extend the validity period of expired planning permits, pledging to simplify the entity’s procedures.
Buttigieg’s tenure oversaw a boom in Malta’s construction industry, together with major reforms in Malta’s planning sector, foremost among them the separation of the Planning Authority’s environmental and planning functions.