Have we lost the plot?

A recent Times of Malta editorial declared: “Act now, before summer becomes unbearable” (June 14).

In that leader, the concerns that people like myself, my party, like-minded NGOs and many other reasonable voices have been raising all along were highlighted in one fell swoop: traffic congestion, overcrowding, noise, dust caused by never-ending roadworks and construction projects, ear-piercing petards set off at all hours of the day and the blaring music that continues well into the night.

These, together with many other persistent nuisances, turn the Maltese summer into one long nightmare. It is little wonder, then, that for many of us the only respite comes from those few precious days when we manage to get out of the country and spend time somewhere more liveable.

In the space of a few days after the election, we have also seen the pace of so-called ‘development’ pick up with a vengeance.

In Gozo, excavators moved into the UNESCO buffer zone surrounding the Ġgantija World Heritage Site to demolish a farmhouse and make way for yet another apartment block. Meanwhile, in Bidnija, a disused farm on ODZ land could be converted into a 30-bedroom wellness centre if a pending planning application receives approval.

This follows a familiar pattern: so-called ‘sheep farms’ springing up in green areas, only to be repurposed as yet more tourism accommodation.

And, before someone tells me “but this is what you get by voting back Labour in government”, just have a look as to what the PN did to a committed environmentalist – Luke Said in Gozo – who believes the party was cautious about promoting his candidacy because of his green credentials.

“I was a gamble for the PN and I think even the party itself didn’t know what to do with me or whether they saw me as an asset or not,” the scientist said.

And, then, there were the manoeuvres that PN leader Alex Borg saw fit to engage in to ensure that Luke would not even have the opportunity of entering parliament through a casual election.

If ever there was a sacrificial lamb, this was it.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear of plans for yet more hotels to be built. Just this week we read that property mogul Michael Stivala has applied to demolish two three-storey buildings on the Gżira seafront and replace them with a 90-room hotel spread across 13 floors and a basement level.

If there was ever a stretch of land which has been overdeveloped in this country this must be it. And this must be the third or fourth application for a hotel by Stivala in the area (I’ve lost count) while residents continue to suffer.

Last year, four million tourists arrived in the country and the strain on our infrastructure was palpable- Sandra Gauci

And, as available land becomes increasingly scarce, developers are now setting their sights on the sea. An application for a massive lido on the public foreshore between Gżira and Sliema includes plans for land reclamation, effectively appropriating part of the sea and the view along with it.

Basic civic decency dictates that public spaces should never be surrendered to private commercial interests. Yet, even that appears to be too much to ask.

The proposal is another nail in the coffin for an area that has been suffering from massive overdevelopment for many years. When are we going to say that enough is enough?

Among the cacophony, voices of reason still manage to disrupt the narrative.

Arguably speaking somewhat out of self-interest (though there is nothing wrong with a degree of self-preservation in the face of such an onslaught), Hubert Debono, general manager of the Embassy Valletta Hotel, could not have put it better when he was quoted by Times of Malta as saying: “A Malta that has exceeded its social carrying capacity, where residents are noise-stressed, where infrastructure is strained, where the tourist experience is degrading, is a worse commercial environment for every operator, not just the ones already here. And it’s a worse place to live for the people who call it home.”

We must remember that a 2024 Deloitte study, commissioned by the MHRA, found that Malta would need 4.8 million tourist arrivals a year if all approved tourist accommodation properties were developed and no existing bed stock was retired.

Last year, four million tourists arrived in the country and the strain on our infrastructure was palpable.

Yet, we continue to read about new additions to the stock. Just this week, news emerged that the Savoy building in Valletta is to be transformed into yet another hotel with around 60 rooms, making it one of the larger tourist accommodations in the capital.

The Embassy Hotel is currently the largest hotel in Valletta with 81 rooms but a new hotel, the Ruby, is expected to open later this year on Strait Street with 88 rooms.

Rooms, rooms and more rooms.

It is only for sustainability and well-being that our country seems to have no room for.

Sandra Gauci is the chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party and a St Paul’s Bay councillor.