Updated at 1pm
People are owed an explanation about the "shameful" decision taken by the Planning Authority to allow a dilapidated room in Qala to be built into a villa with a pool, Adrian Delia insisted on Saturday.
The Nationalist Party leader said people were expecting an explanation because the PA decision jarred with other government statements that the environment was being prioritised.
Describing the project as “abuse”, Dr Delia noted that one of the people who voted in its favour was Labour MP Clayton Bartolo.
Barely one hour after Dr Delia spoke, the developer behind the Qala project, Joseph Portelli, issued a statement saying he was voluntarily renouncing the permit for the development.
The PA decision sparked outrage among many people, including Qala's Labour council and various Labour Party exponents, including MEP and former leader Alfred Sant and ONE chairman Jason Micallef.
“We heard a lot about the issue from many people but we heard nothing from Environment Minister Jose Herrera, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who is saying that the environment is being given more priority, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and the Planning Authority itself. People are waiting for explanations on this decision. And the government needs to reply,” he said during an interview on NETFM.
PN reform
Dr Delia spoke at length about how the Nationalist Party will be embarking on the second phase of its reform, aimed to renew and strengthen it.
He said that although it was envisaged that the process would take one year, until July, to be concluded, it is thought that it will be concluded by March. After months of listening to people’s views, it was now time to sieve that information and start to consider the proposed changes and then move on to the renewal of its committees, organs and official positions.
He said it stood to reason to extend the mandate of the current officials, committees and branches to March 31, 2020, because it did not make sense to change them while the reform process is still under way.
Asked about the PN position on the sale of St Luke’s Hospital, the Gozo Hospital and Karin Grech Hospital to Steward Healthcare, Dr Delia said the PN will continue insisting on explanations from the government on how the government’s expenditure on these three hospitals increased since they were handed over to the private firm.
“In 2013, taxpayers were paying between €20 and €30 million a year for these three hospitals. The expenditure increased to €80 to €90 million. But is there anyone who saw any improvement in these three hospitals? The PN will be there to continue asking for explanations. The faster that Steward leave, the better,” Dr Delia said.
He said that Dr Muscat had said, almost proudly, that Steward had invested €36 million but had not mentioned that the government had given them €150 million. People were owned an explanation about this.