MTA chairman under fire over development policy

Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday criticised comments made by Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) chairman Sam Mifsud that the authority's policy is to spread places of entertainment to the north and to develop the coast.

Party leader Arnold Cassola described the development of the little coastline that is still left unbuilt as preposterous.

AD's spokesman on sustainable development, Carmel Cacopardo said the MTA's attitude to the proposal to develop Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's site at Mistra showed that the MTA did not care about environmental policies.

"Had it cared, it would have noted immediately that the site forms part of a proposal for a Natura 2000 site and, therefore, is protected in terms of the Habitats Directive as transposed into Maltese law," he said.

In his comments, made in court during a hearing on the Mistra case, Mr Mifsud said the MTA made its recommendations purely from a tourism point of view without considering the environment, which fell within the remit of another organisation.

The Labour Party said in a statement that Mr Mifsud's comments went against policies of sustainable development.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Labour spokesman on tourism, and Leo Brincat, spokesman on the environment, said public authorities needed to work together, more so as the environment formed an important component of tourism.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

Robert Caruana (on 27/8/08)

To all members of the MTA board, particularly Mr Mifsud

Please make sure that you read and study well the talking point "Our tourism environment" by parliamentary secretary for tourism, Dr Mario de Marco on the back page of today's edition of the TImes. It may help you adjust your way of viewing things.

Thumbs up Dr de Marco
Thumbs down MTA

J.A. Agius (on 27/8/08)

It is not just Alternattiva Demokratika which is hammering the MTA chairman's statement; it is all all Maltese thinking persons who treasure what's left of their natural environment.
It is incredible that such a stance by the Authority was tolerated by Minister Zammit Dimech. The latter must also have kept his Prime Minister, chairperson of the interministerial committee, in the dark about this curious environmental disregard. So, is this MTA policy going to change now?