Reviewing the local plans would cause injustices, Robert Abela warns

Prime Minister Robert Abela has ruled out reviewing the country’s local plans, saying this would cause people to suffer injustice. He has also excluded purchasing Ħondoq ir-Rummien from its private owners.

Abela told Times of Malta in an interview that the local plans had last been changed by a Nationalist administration in 2006 and changing them again would impinge on people’s property rights and cause injustices.

“I believe they shouldn’t be changed because it creates great injustice for people,” he said, adding that people can “build intelligently and in an aesthetically pleasing way” when asked whether developers building high apartment blocks was going to remain a common sight.

“Nobody, not even the Opposition, has contested the local plans. If we had to do that, we would create great uncertainty in the country. Property value would change drastically causing huge, dangerous uncertainty,” he said.

“We cannot revoke people’s property rights. But there are other ways around it, including incentivising people to buy old properties, investing €700 million more in open spaces and improve regulations on the aesthetic beauty and preservation of buildings,” he added.

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