The once pristine valley of Mselliet (il-Wied tal-Imselliet) outside Mġarr has been defaced by several truckloads of debris and construction waste, including tiles, sinks and parts of wooden apertures, being dumped there by unknown contractors.
As the island’s construction frenzy continues unabated, the only two quarries officially earmarked to receive demolition waste – at Għar Lapsi and Mqabba – have virtually doubled their tariffs by raising them from €8 to €15 per tonne.
This unilateral increase by the two quarry owners goes directly against an agreement reached only eight months ago with the government.
With a logic which is only comprehensible in this lawless country, this has led inevitably to some contractors attempting to circumvent the tariff increase – and presumably send a mafia-like message to the government – by resorting to illegal dumping in unspoilt countryside.
The problem has been exacerbated because the two quarries at Għar Lapsi and Mġarr will soon reach their maximum capacity, while other quarries identified and licensed to receive construction waste are not yet ready to do so on “operational grounds”.
While the minister responsible, José Herrera, put the blame fairly and squarely on the construction industry and the Malta Developer’s Association for failing to stick to the agreement which had been struck following several months of discussion, the MDA was having none of it.
In their view, the construction waste disposal situation had come to a head.
They warned of a crisis if the government continued to avoid taking tough decisions. As an afterthought, the MDA sought to return to the moral high ground by appealing to the authorities “to take severe action against the perpetrators, who should face drastic consequences for their criminal actions”.
In a desperate ratcheting up of the temperature, Dr Herrera has threatened to confiscate licensed quarries that lie on government-owned land and to use these for dumping. This may be a solution to the immediate crisis, but it does not solve the long-term problem faced by Malta.
The inescapable and fundamental issue is that the government (and administrations before it) has created in the construction industry a voracious and runaway monster. The MDA insists that the way to deal with the crisis is to confront the “tough decisions” that need to be taken.
By this they mean the government should continue to feed the beast and its insatiable demands by, for example, taking decisions about land reclamation – presumably, if they have their way, with scant regard to the environmental impact.
In doing so, the construction industry is trying to force an already complicit government to turn the root cause of the issue on its head. For, on the contrary, what a government that cares about the extreme logistical and other consequences already affecting Malta’s environment, health, safety and well-being should do is to take firm steps to rein back a construction boom of unprecedented intensity and patent harm.
Economic arguments, which ride roughshod over people’s concerns about their environment, must no longer take precedence over citizens’ rights to enjoy a decent quality of life. The current situation is unsustainable. The treatment of Malta’s construction industry requires a radical shift of policy. This must include a determination to reduce further construction development.
This is the criterion that should drive the formulation of a strictly controlled planning policy based on severe limitations over all construction development. Applying sticking plaster is no longer enough.