Planning Minister meets staff at Planning Authority

The newly appointed Minister for Public Works and Planning Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi paid a courtesy visit to the Planning Authority at its offices in Floriana. Upon his arrival at St Francis Ravelin, the Minister was welcomed by the PA’s Executive Chairperson Mr Martin Saliba, who accompanied him on a tour of the offices.

Staff from the various Directorates briefed and spoke with Zrinzo Azzopardi about their work and the challenges they face. Zrinzo Azzopardi showed his appreciation for being given the opportunity to meet many Planning Authority employees. He said that the Authority plays an important role in Malta’s development, which has to be sustainable and provide a better quality of life to Maltese and Gozitan families.

He said that in the coming weeks and months he wants to ensure that the targets for this sector, as expressed in the Electoral Manifesto that has just been approved by the Maltese people in the last general election, are reached.

Zrinzo Azzopardi stated that the Authority will update its operations so that it continues to improve its services to the citizen, and simultaneously making the safeguarding of our environment a priority.

In a brief speech, PA’s Executive Chairperson Martin Saliba said “One of the most pressing tasks the Authority has on its hands today is to ensure that we reach the agreed timeframes set by Government in 2020 to revise Malta’s Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED). We are now at a phase of collating various studies that analyse Malta’s spatial strategy based on key performance indicators.” He added: “we are identifying past and present development trends to project Malta’s future spatial needs, as well as to determine how our sustainability framework can ensure that development today does not hinder the lives of future generations.”

“Later this year, once they are completed, we will publish the studies and invite the public to actively participate in the Review process through contributions and suggestions before we then commence with the formulation of the new Spatial Strategy. By updating our Spatial Strategy, we can plan for the required economic growth while safeguarding our environmental and social wellbeing,” Saliba said.