People are utterly desperate and exhausted by the relentless obliteration of open spaces and greenery in this country. The latest major assault comes in the form of a plan to build two new carriageways between Rabat and Mrieħel. The plans were approved by the Planning Authority last Thursday. Residents, NGOs, farmers and thousands are livid.
Besides giving rein to the excesses of developers, the government is itself driving bulldozers through the land, building massive roads without making any serious effort to reduce traffic by improving public transport.
The Central Link project will destroy nearly 50,000 square metres of open space, including arable fields, and uproot 440 mature trees. Any improvements in traffic flow will be temporary - unless the authorities tackle the problem headfirst, the number of cars on the road will continue increasing.
Infrastructure Malta chief executive Fredrick Azzopardi presented the same line to The Sunday Times of Malta as the Prime Minister did on radio that morning.
Both emphasised that, back in 2006, a four-lane bypass was proposed to alleviate the traffic bottleneck at Attard, which would also have taken up a large stretch of land.
Joseph Muscat stressed that this government, unlike the other, was now taking action, while Azzopardi pointed out that the 2006 plan did not include cycle lanes and footpaths. This is a most frustrating response.
An aborted proposal of 13 years ago is no justification for the current project. Azzopardi rejected the idea that the government was a bunch of “axe-wielding tree killers”, saying new trees would be planted, and would be maintained for five years by the contractor. This, Muscat noted, would lead to an overall increase in trees. People are not blind and many are rightly sceptical, realising the lies they have been fed along the years. The Kappara flyover, or the widened road from San Ġwann to Naxxar, for example, are desperate of any sign of greenery.
They know there is a good chance the Central Link project will look more of the same. The environment impact assessment for the Central Link project cited “clear evidence that new or expanded roads rapidly fill with displaced or induced traffic, offsetting any short-term gains in eased traffic flows”.
Widening roads without addressing the root of the problem is a short-term measure with great environmental cost. Azzopardi’s response to this was disheartening: the increase in cars, he said, would happen irrespective of the size of the roads – in Malta people want to use their own cars. He acknowledged that a radical shift is needed in transport options and infrastructure, saying this was happening with the introduction of cycle lanes and other initiatives.
But neither he nor the Prime Minister offered any vision for future public transport options.
Environment and Resources Authority chairman Victor Axiak has come under fire for his approval of the plans, saying his vote in favour was in the national interest.
It would be a fine day when the authorities start considering the protection of unbuilt land and greenery as being in the national interest.
If the head of the environment authority is willing to make that case, how can one expect any public officer to do so?
No wonder people feel so helpless as they witness the annihilation of the island’s last-remaining patches of greenery.