Graffitti held a symbolic action this morning, today being Republic Day highlighting the problem of environmental destruction and the huge influence developers continued to wield on the country’s policies.

Members of the group held banners outside the Palace in Valletta as the Republic Day ceremony was taking place.

They said that, in the last three decades, Malta saw a boom of construction development which took away huge chunks of its natural landscape.

Although it was clear that a saturation point of built-up areas had been reached, the government and its institutions continued to push forward policies favouring the construction industry.

The group argued that Mepa's draft document on ODZ regulations, if implemented, would open the floodgates to more development within the natural landscape and make congested urban areas even more unsuitable to live in.

These proposals, if approved, would allow new buildings in ODZ (in the name of ‘agro-tourism’), change-of-use of existing structures in ODZ and the height-increase of existing tall buildings.

"Unfortunately Mepa has, for far too long, been serving the interests of developers at the expense of the environment. Scores of development projects have been approved in an irregular manner, while eyes remain closed in front of development illegalities...

"We believe that behind all this lies the financial and political power of Maltese developers. It is well know that they finance the two big political parties in Malta. Thus, one shouldn’t be surprised that these parties continue to drag their feet in coming up with a party financing law. Governments in Malta change, but one thing certainly remains the same – Developers Rule," Graffitti said