Swieqi development applications should be tied to a small financial contribution which would go towards the building of a “sorely needed” public square, Mayor Noel Muscat believes.
“We are a rapidly growing community but don’t have our own public square. At this point this seems to be the only way to get this done,” he said.
Dr Muscat told the Times of Malta that he had recently met with the Planning Directorate to discuss the setting up of a special fund that would collect the money required to purchase a vacant plot of land which could be turned into a public space for residents.
The council has long been calling for the vacant plot, adjacent to the Swieqi civic centre, to be purchased by the government and turned into a public space.
“As a locality we get the least assistance from central government; we have close to no public services here. Swieqi is a changing locality with a growing population. We need help if we are going to succeed in turning that population into a community,” he said.
Last month Dr Muscat called on Planning Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri to acquire the plot on behalf of the council.
The council could use the fund as a form of public-private partnership
Dr Schembri had turned down the request, but Dr Muscat is hopeful that the directorate will consider taking him up on his suggestion.
“They seemed interested when I raised this and recognised that it could be an option,” he said.
Dr Muscat said the council could use the fund as a form of public-private partnership to finance the square project.
Other localities facing similar problems could set up funds of their own to finance similar projects.
Dr Muscat has been vociferous in the criticism of what he feels has been “the systematic overdevelopment” of the Swieqi area. What was once a small residential locality, he said, had become a sprawling mesh of concrete apartment blocks.
The outspoken mayor also caused a stir back in March, when he accused the Labour government of “discrimination” when it came to the provision of services and support which are offered to the locality. Dr Muscat said that the council was mostly Nationalist, as was much of the locality, and accused the government of political sabotage in cutting it off from State assistance.
The government strongly denied the Swieqi mayor’s claims.