Head of state opens Montekristo fair

The President of Malta

Charles Polidano, Ic-Caqnu

President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has officially declared open a public fair at what the Environment and Planning Authority has called “Malta’s largest illegal development”, the Montekristo estate.

Until just days ago, the police were refusing to grant a permit for the fair because the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had objected to it on the basis of the many enforcement orders it has issued against illegal development there.

The police permits appeals board then recommended that the permit be issued, and it was, at the 11th hour.

Lawyers for Charles Polidano, who owns the estate, say that he has “cleared the area of all illegal structures at his own expense” (as though he deserves credit for building illegally and then using his own money to get back in line with the law), but the MEPA says not.