The planning ministry has denied claims that it intends to change policies to allow agricultural buildings to be turned into hotels.
Clint Camilleri's ministry was reacting to claims by Moviment Graffitti, which earlier on Wednesday said it was "reliably informed" that the government is "preparing legislation allowing buildings in the countryside, meant for agricultural use, to be changed into hotels".
In a statement reacting to those claims, the ministry denied any such plans.
"The Ministry for Gozo and Planning denies that there are any ongoing or planned discussions to change the policies in any way to allow ODZ buildings to be turned into hotels," it said.
In a social media post, the environmental NGO said if the information it received was true, it would "really mean the last nail in the coffin of ODZ in the Maltese islands".
It said such policies would "radically change the Maltese landscape by extending the invasion of horrible hotels, that have been sprouting everywhere in urban areas, to the countryside as well".
Although Outside Development Zone (ODZ) areas are technically shielded from development, planning laws allow for structures to be built on ODZ land for agricultural use, to house farm animals and farming equipment, for instance.
But planning applications for the development of agricultural structures have been flagged by activists as ripe for abuse.
Developers, some fear, are applying for permits to build countryside farms, only to later transform the structures into storerooms, residences or commercial projects.
In one such case, a planning application was submitted in 2022 to add a residence, retail outlet, guest rooms and other commercial spaces to a massive Bidnija “sheep farm” that had raised objections when it was first approved for construction in a previously untouched valley.
The developer in that case insists that the development is legit and genuinely used to house sheep.
In another, similar and more recent case, MEP candidate Peter Agius claimed that a developer had defrauded the EU by pocketing hundreds of thousands of euro in funding to build a sheep farm, only to use the money to develop a villa instead.
The developer allowed Times of Malta into the building to prove that it is indeed being used as a sheep farm.
Aside from concerns about agriculture provisions in ODZ policies being abused, critics of the existing policy also flag highly controversial provisions which allow developers to build residential buildings on ODZ land if they can prove that existing structures on their land were used as residences in the past.
The government announced work to totally overhaul ODZ policies years ago. But despite having published its proposals and presented them for public consultation in 2020, the revised policy never saw the light of day and remains under wraps.