PL Councillor Blames Own Local Council For Issuing Permit Over Illegal Midnight Construction Works In St Julian’s
PL Councillor and Transport Malta spokesperson Adrian Ellul has effectively blamed his own local council for issuing an illegal permit for private midnight construction works in St Julian’s.
This comes after a number of residents reported loud excavation works taking place in the middle of the night a few weeks back, between 11pm and 5am. It is illegal to carry out such works at those times.
After Lovin Malta’s report, The Building and Construction Authority rendered the works illegal, as no construction works should be taking place past 8pm, even though it was green lit by Transport Malta.
It was later revealed that Transport Malta had approved the permit as it had an objection to closing the road during the day due to causing traffic, opting to carry out the works in the middle of the night instead.
Lovin Malta had reached out to Transport Malta a week ago for a response to the BCA rendering the works illegal, which was provided today.
“A request was put forward by the St Julian’s local council for construction works on a private site which required the full road closures of Triq Mrabat. This is a very narrow road in San Giljan which operates two-way traffic for public transport and one-way for other vehicles. Road closure during the morning or afternoon would affect public transport and other localities such as Sliema, Gżira, and San Ġwann.”
“Following communication and coordination with all stakeholders, namely the Land Transport Directorate, the local council, and the contractor – the only possible time to minimise daytime traffic catastrophe was that works were to be carried out between 11pm to 5am.”
“In this case, the local council is the entity that approves the permit while Transport Malta states any objection to the works,” it said, even though the local council could not approve the permit at the said times due to TM’s objection.
“Meetings with the Building Construction Authority, the project’s Architect, and the contractor are currently being held to find new alternatives,” they concluded.
Given that so many main roads have been left closed for weeks on end – if not months or years – you’d think they wouldn’t have an issue with closing a road for a few hours.
After the article was published, Ellul decided he wanted to provide a right of reply. You can find it below:
“It is true, that I hold the position of a councillor in the St Julian’s Local Council and also work professionally within Transport Malta. I have always carried out both roles with integrity and in a manner that one does not affect the other.”
“Therefore, I am clarifying explicitly that I was responding to the question as a communication official within TM.”
What do you make of this debacle?
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