A developer’s offer of free television sets to anyone who gives up their property for redevelopment has been met with despair by pro-environmentalists who said it reflected the general propensity towards demolition.
They were reacting to CHM Development’s flyers being sent to all households in the past few days in which the developer is offering a free TV to anyone who gives up their property for demolition.
“We are looking for properties which we can demolish and rebuild,” the company’s message read on its flyer.
“Put your mind at rest because we will give you an attractive proposal.”
On the back side of the flyer, the company promised a 65-inch 4K smart TV, worth €850, to those who reached an agreement on the property by end of September.
Efforts to contact the developer proved futile. When contacted on the number provided, Times of Malta was told to call later but all calls thereafter remained unanswered.
Planning and pro-environment lawyer Claire Bonello said the promo showed developers’ propensity towards demolition.
“This shows one thing… the absolute refusal of developers to countenance restoring existent buildings and retrofitting them,” she said.
“They prefer the unsustainable practice of demolition with all the inconvenience that entails. “
Her view was echoed by many on social media as well as Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar coordinator Astrid Vella.
“This is pathetic. This sort of advertising makes it even more clear that developers consider the Planning Authority as irrelevant and that, once they procure site, their permits are guaranteed,” Vella said.
“Has the demolition fever reached such a pitch that we are now descending to the level of pre-election freebies to reek the developers’ destruction,” she asked.
However, Malta Developers’ Association president Michael Stivala, who is chairman and chief executive of Stivala Group of developers, defended what he described as a “marketing ploy”.
“This is just a PR exercise, a marketing ploy. It is only normal that developers try to find land that they can develop, whether they are plots or properties which can be demolished and rebuilt.
“It’s just part of the business. What’s the big deal,” he asked.
He said the offer, although using the term ‘demolition’ was not excluding retrofitting. “They used a generic term in the Maltese language but this does not mean that developers prefer demolition rather than restoring a ready-built property.”
He explained that, over the years, he has seen developers offering free air conditioning units or a free kitchen in new apartments built on the site of another property.