The elephant in the engine room

Around this time four years ago, a couple of months before the 2022 election, civil society was largely engaged in the Marsascala marina saga.

This time round, another monster needed to be put to bed before polling time: the twin-headed planning “reform” which sought to neutralise all opposition to the construction cabal.

It’s been a long eight months spent among discussions, waiting games and courtesy calls, while the authors of the ill-fated Bills 143 and 144 defended their work, incoherently; whatever private emotion or interest they harbour, in any normal state Johann Buttigieg and Robert Musumeci would have had their names taken off the state payroll (again) months ago.

The Dandy Duo may have sneaked the reform through to parliament, possibly by economising on the truth of how their Grande Opera will have hindered everyone’s legal rights, and the projects of other ministries – say, Project Green. Yet, they made several members of cabinet look stupid, or worse, and, besides the protests they caused, red districts who have had enough of living in an open quarry also blipped in anger.

The government’s reluctance to fix the bills – which simply involved deleting a number of paragraphs and retaining just one – also meant that the prime minister’s promise to introduce the suspension of works under appeal (curiously made on May Day 2023) was expendable.

Beware of prime ministers making promises on Workers’ Day: the suspension of works would have been the only pro-people reform in 11 years of construction boom.

At a time in which Michael Stivala, whose lobby lost more pieces in one day than any Russian space station, is being paraded on the opposition leader’s social media and with both parties’ surveys showing massive discontent at construction, traffic and overpopulation, Labour revels in its eternal Stockholm Syndrome.

The real hostages, however, are our towns and their residents; they were promised a reform, were presented a scam, then the government taketh both away. Stivala, despite the crutches, ends the tie in a deuce, as he plays on multiple courts.

There’s no shame for the man, whose cabal received thousands in funding and who spent these months venting his dislike for the law, courts and lawyers, to report the government and another rare pro-people initiative – the housing affordability scheme – to the European Commission. It’s what a cartel does: it uses its market dominance against any state with weak institutions.

More padel? Over to the Manoel Island Sports Arena as the government and unlikely comrades celebrate a €43 million bailout of a bad investment; good to know pre-electoral larceny involving public funds has become a “win for the people”.

Seems that what many people want is for the election to be over soon. Potential foregone conclusions aside, it’s not like there’s much quality on the plate. There is no talk of policy but a general dumbing down, with silver bullets fired to solve traffic amid a series of more-or-less costed handouts; more throwing money at problems in the hope they dissolve.

In isolation, the planning laws were a way to guarantee perpetual status quo, making the new ‘Barunijiet’ and the ‘Ħbieb tal-Ħbieb’ legally unassailable, even outside construction. Beyond the bills, however, is a discussion no party wants to have.

Seems that what many people want is for the election to be over soon- Wayne Flask

Recently, I was invited to debate the “Malta I would like to live in.”

I thought we’d chat about the economy, our resources, our way of life; how our towns and environs should not only look  but feel. Sadly, the moderator – a patronising chappie who behaved like an overbearing assistant at a Shamanic rite – was more interested in the level of dressing up a public garden needs or how athletes can improve their performance in a room where the only gymnastics were a hurried, reductive correlation between mental health and open spaces.

This debate will be wholly absent through the electoral period, even though the overheating economic system is dripping greasy drops of overpopulation, traffic, pollution and, clearly, excessive construction; ‘inconveniences’ aside, while young people do not afford to buy property in their own country, prices have risen by three times the demand, while the supply of new properties outpaces demand by 4%.

Statistics also show that the concentration of all this wealth lies in the hands of very few. Many of us are working for an economy that just about works for them, or doesn’t at all. The price of milk has risen by four times in recent years, while our national minimum wage increases have been a laughing matter for countries that were behind an Iron Curtain.

Overtourism is one symptom of a sick economic system and, yet, all it takes is vision and the discipline to make the industry sustainable not only for the operators but also for those who live here all year round. How much value are the perpetually dazed day trippers hogging our pavements really leaving in the national economy?

It’s a shock to see Buttigieg – who trumpets his KPIs in construction permits issued per quarter – among the faces of Vision 2050. The man’s “qualities” aside, Malta should be looking at using its existing resources better and more efficiently without the need for a further influx of space-intensive businesses, which cause massive consequences to residents, especially when they operate without regulation.

Just like the Marsascala marina was resurrected in the form of a fast ferry, also subsidised by the state and run by the Zammit Tabonas, I’m under no illusion the planning laws saga is over. It will take a different shape or form, maybe under the guise of “sports commercialisation” or another spunky slogan.

For many, this election is just added noise among the incessant ‘business as usual’ in our towns.

On May 17, in Nigret, Żurrieq we are bringing residents together for the only non-partisan event of the electoral campaign, as an application signed by former planning minister George Pullicino has opened the floodgates for scores of apartments in another pristine area, 20 times the size of a Project Green initiative across town.

It never stops.

Wayne Flask is the secretary of Il-Kollettiv.