Not a day goes by without media coverage of a gross property market irregularity or scandal. No one seems to be spared the lure of turning a quick buck on a property of any kind or size. Ministers, public servants, well-known entrepreneurs, building contractors, individuals and many others abusively dip their hands in this proverbial pot of gold.
This race for all-out conquest is not a minor issue. It has tragically claimed several victims either during their work or on a nearby site. There is more to this despicable story. A silent majority has fallen victim to this onslaught. Those living close to construction sites, especially the elderly, who are already suffering from the isolation induced by COVID-19, face psychological distress, tension, noise and every conceivable inconvenience. It all comes down to greed and lack of mutual respect.
Characterless high-rise towers are sprouting like parasites, stripping this island of what was once a harmonious skyline. Typical Maltese villages have permanent disfigurement and damage. The once beautiful townhouses that made our villages quintessentially Maltese are being transformed into a series of ugly multi-storey buildings, blocking the sunlight that created beautiful scenes of chiaroscuro. Now it is all scuro.
The once pristine rural landscape of our country is now studded with construction projects. The visions of ugly rusty oil barrels or all sorts of junk to build a dura (hunting hide) have become a relic of the past. However, the stage is now more unsettling. What were formerly rural tool sheds have now become fully furnished mansions.
There is a reluctance to exercise any state authority
A new generation of farmers has come into existence. Their almost identical trademark is to replace traditionally built rubble walls with a fake imitation going as high as two to three metres, scatter a few olive and cypress trees and, hey presto, one becomes a farmer. And rightly so, they need a home in the immediate vicinity of their ‘farmland’!
Road works are undertaken without proper planning, resulting in overwhelming frustration for drivers and people living nearby. Driving from A to B has become a nightmare. The number of deviations, along what used to be a simple route, are now incalculable. The disturbances that people living nearby endure for months are innumerable: limited access to their home, power cuts, days without water supply, dust, noise, the list is endless. Long stretches of fertile land and trees are being destroyed. Sadly, no one seems to want to take the slightest responsibility.
Building regulations have become so lax that people, assisted by creative architects, have learned how to slip around them. All sorts of pretexts are invented to greedily grab plots of fertile farmland or garigue and destroy them.
It is astounding how this national scar reveals the worst elements of Maltese selfishness. There is no issue with people making money but the money should serve, not rule. Without any other major economic engine due to the pandemic, this is now a panacea for our economy.
There is a reluctance to exercise any state authority. Our government is happy as this mania is contributing to the ‘GDP’ idol. One wonders who is benefiting from all this. The wealth generated by this frenzy does not contribute to equitable and sustainable well-being.
In the general audience of February 2017, in his usual challenging manner, Pope Francis stated: “When carried away by selfishness, human beings end up ruining even the most beautiful things that have been entrusted to them… Humanity’s greed and selfishness turns creation into a sad and desolate world instead of the sign of God’s love that it was meant to be.”
We need a political class that is not concerned about short-term gains and is not afraid to condemn abuses. We need politicians who ignore their own interests and those of their party and say that this anomaly cannot be overlooked. We must also ask ourselves whether we are contributing in our own way to this tragedy that has engulfed our country.
Claudio Farrugia, Member, Catholic Voices Malta