€52.3 million collected by Planning Authority since 2016 regularisation scheme was introduced

Kyle Patrick Camilleri

The Minister for Gozo and Planning, Clint Camilleri, has revealed that since the 2016 regularisation scheme for existing irregularities was introduced in August 2016, the Planning Authority has collected over €52 million in applications and fines.

Through a parliamentary question, PN’s spokesperson for planning and lands, MP Stanley Zammit, asked the Minister to state how much money the Planning Authority has collected year by year, locality by locality, from applications and fines resulting from the Regularisation of Existing Development Regulations in 2016 which established the regularisation scheme for existing irregularities within the Development Zone, including from “Category B concessions.”

Parliamentary data shows that since enacted nine years ago, the Planning Authority has amassed a total sum of €52,273,223 through these means.

The first three calendar years after this law came to life were the most financially fruitful for the Planning Authority in this regard. 2017 witnessed a turnover of €10.1 million, 2018 improved that figure to €11.5 million, and in 2019, a sum of just under €8.2 million was collected by the PA.

In the years that followed, from 2020 onwards, the annual collected sums have declined gradually. While €4.3 million was collected throughout 2020, the sum for total collections per year has been hovering around the mid-€3 million mark ever since. €2.7 million have been collected in 2025 so far.

During this near decade, the locality that has contributed the largest financial contributions in this regard was St. Paul’s Bay, with €4.5 million alone. Other notable localities in this list were Mellieħa (€2,879,126), Sliema (€2,520,815), Swieqi (€2,372,120), Naxxar (€2,310,070), and Birkirkara (€2,084,975).

Also crossing over a million euros in such contributions during this timeframe were Attard during this timeframe were Attard (€1,811,153), Marsaskala (€1,721,400), Mosta (€1,842,435), Qormi (€1,929,000), Rabat (€1,087,200), San Ġwann (€1,914,165), St. Julian’s (€1,549,390), Żebbuġ, Malta (€1,108,285), and Żebbuġ, Gozo (€1,365,053).

The locality with the least such contributions was Mdina, with just €27,250 paid.