In reality, many of us have long succumbed to the fact that Malta has been sold out to developers, with profit prioritised over the well-being of residents.
But what happened this week when the cabinet formally accepted to propose a change to local plans, which could change the size of the Villa Rosa project in St George’s Bay, has angered an entire nation.
Details are still sketchy, with the government remaining conspicuously (and conveniently) silent. But sources we spoke to say the change in local plans will likely shield the project from any future legal challenges.
According to last year’s Environmental Impact Assessment, the environmental impact of the Villa Rosa project would be nothing short of disastrous, with severe consequences for air quality and the surrounding landscape.
Instead of defending the public from overdevelopment, there are concerns the government is now adjusting the rules to accommodate it.
Robert Abela’s justification for large projects is laughable. In one breath, he says residents are fed up with cement and want open green spaces. In the next, he says what “quality” tourists want is brand names.
Would quality tourists seriously bother spending their time in a veritable cement factory, rather than having access to green cities with even better access to “brands”?
As one Labour MP confessed to us this week: “greed has no limits”.
The main issue at stake is not the Villa Rosa project itself. It is how rules are bent and twisted at politicians’ whims. Why have we been told local plans are set in stone, and now appear malleable?
What makes this situation reprehensible is the quiet complicity of government ministers who voiced their private concerns about the project, yet still allowed it to move forward.
The time has come for people to demand a semblance of respect from elected officials, who should protect the public good, not private greed
These MPs have apparently learned nothing from the lessons of the hospitals’ privatisation scandal, which highlighted the importance of the cabinet’s collective responsibility for government decisions.
Abela said he was willing to listen to the people’s concerns after his party’s disappointing MEP elections last June. Clearly, it was just political rhetoric.
It’s been 17 months and counting since Abela promised to reform planning laws to freeze developments under appeal. That reform has yet to materialise.
The wheels of government turn very slowly when citizens’ rights are at stake. But, as this week’s cabinet decision shows, things move considerably faster when big guns’ interests are on the line.
Cabinet’s intervention in what should, technically, be purely a planning issue also serves to underline the double standards at stake within this government.
Just weeks ago, the Planning Authority allowed a development in Sannat which was declared illegal by the courts to move ahead. Cabinet said nothing about that.
Abela said the local plan review will be opened to public consultation. We have rarely seen a public consultation of a cabinet-approved decision ever resulted in tangible change? The very fact the order is coming from the cabinet table sends a clear message: public consultation, legal processes and environmental assessments are mere formalities, easily brushed aside when profit is at stake.
This is symptomatic of a much larger problem: the collapse of the rule of law in Malta when it comes to development. NGOs like Moviment Graffitti and il-Kollettiv have been vocal in their criticism that the game is rigged in big developers’ favour.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of residents all across Malta feel helpless and hopeless as more tower cranes are erected, signalling years of noise, dust, inconvenience and even distress.
The time has come for people to demand a semblance of respect from elected officials, who should protect the public good, not private greed.