Kalkara valley - stating the facts

The contribution to The Times regarding the Kalkara valley by MP Joe Mizzi (June 9) is an exercise in the distortion of facts.

The area referred to as Kalkara valley was earmarked for development way back in the 1960s. In other words, had there been an application for development, say, in 1980, a permit would have been issued without any problem.

In 2002, in the revision of the Grand Harbour Local Plan an area of 10,000 square metres of developable land was excluded as this area was considered environmentally highly sensitive. An area of 10 tumoli of land was thus protected from development.

One can imagine that it is no easy task to remove land from the building zone. Land suitable for development costs hundreds of thousands of Maltese liri and clearly there would be resistance from the land owners. This government had the courage to take the decision to remove this sizeable area from the development zone at Kalkara. Politically, the decision was even more difficult because the land was owned by the family of a then Nationalist member of Parliament. The government's decision saved an area of countryside within Kalkara valley. Based on these irrefutable facts, Mr Mizzi's claim that "the plan to devastate Kalkara valley was hatched in the Grand Harbour Local Plan and aggravated in the re-planning exercise..." is nothing but an outright fabrication. He knows this all too well. As Labour minister from 1996 to 1998 and subsequently as Mepa board member representing the Labour Party from 1998 to 2003, he was well aware of the evolving Grand Harbour Local Plan and the issues relating to Kalkara.

It is interesting to note that in October 1997, when his party was in power, a meeting was held by the Planning Authority officials with five Labour ministers to discuss the then-draft Grand Harbour Local Plan. As recorded in the minutes of the meeting, Mr Mizzi was also present so much so that he intervened three times on other issues relating to Kalkara. Strangely enough, however, he did not request the reduction of the building area from Kalkara valley. If Mr Mizzi really believes that the building schemes were, as he puts it, "a travesty of planning principles", why did he keep his mouth shut?

He had ample opportunity to do something about it and he did not. And now, typical of the way Labour does politics, he launches an attack on the Nationalist government, using information which he knows to be false.

Between 1996 and 1998, the Labour Party in government had the opportunity to remove the developable land at Kalkara valley from the scheme. It did not. It had to be a Nationalist government which had the courage to protect 10 tumoli of environmentally sensitive land from development.

Mr Mizzi refers to the development at Kalkara as speculation. This is also mistaken. My understanding of speculation is when someone buys land outside the development zone at a low price. One will then seek to have it included within the development zone so as to reap the significant increase in value. No such thing happened in Kalkara valley for the simple reason that the land was developable since the 1960s.

Because they are based on a false premise, Mr Mizzi's innuendos and allegations against this government on Kalkara are further confirmation of Mr Mizzi's inability to develop analytic constructive arguments.