Graffitti slams plans for 'useless and destructive Żabbar–Smart City road'

Moviment Graffitti has slammed plans for a new two-lane road linking Żabbar to Smart City, saying it threatens to inflict irreversible damage on the area's rural and cultural heritage 'under the guise of solving a non-existent traffic problem.'

Despite revisions to the original plan, the project will still destroy 5,686 square meters of agricultural land — half of which is productive — disrupting local ecosystems and further eroding green spaces and agriculture, the NGO said.

The road will also lead to the removal of 30 mature trees and shrubs, to be replaced, in theory, with 40 new indigenous species.

This kind of 'greenwashing' ignores the decades it takes for ecosystems to mature. Biodiversity isn’t restored with saplings — and in the meantime, local habitats and climate resilience are further degraded, the group added. 

Furthermore, the route threatens the context of Notre Dame Gate, the Cottonera bastions, the Capuchin Convent, and the surrounding scheduled structures — some of which are Grade I-listed and located in Areas of High Landscape and Ecological Importance.

Graffitti argued that traffic toward Smart City does not warrant this intervention. Existing roads already provide adequate access without destroying farmland or encroaching on historic sites.

"The government’s justification — that it is contractually obliged to build this road as part of the Smart City agreement — is a failure of leadership. Outdated contracts must not be allowed to dictate harmful developments that go against today’s environmental realities and national interest. We urgently call on the authorities to reconsider and renegotiate — rather than bulldoze ahead with a project that sacrifices our environment and heritage to serve the speculative interests of a wealthy few," it said.