The new administration has made a focused attempt to showcase the idea that a page has been turned in our country. We are being encouraged to believe that good governance is the order of the day now. Robert Abela has certainly taken a lot of good decisions as prime minister.
Despite Neville Gafà proclaiming him as the new saviour to the cry of “continuity”, Abela ended up sacking him and many others, including Justyne Caruana as Minister for Gozo. After many years where every scandal was met with excuses or silence, this was certainly a refreshing development.
Speaking of development, however, my concern is that while we may expect reforms in some areas, these will fall short of delivering us from many of the country’s fundamental problems.
For all this talk of good governance, I am still deeply concerned by the state of planning and development in this country. On the bright side, I have confidence in the intentions of Aaron Farrugia, the new Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning. He has made all the right noises and has joined me in becoming one of the only politicians in the country who actually uses public transport.
Good governance in this country is only being applied to the flashiest incidents which attract international scrutiny
His transparency register is a big step forward and it is to the credit of the new prime minister that the planning and environment portfolios were merged into one. I was also pleasantly surprised that Sandro Chetcuti, president of the Malta Developers’ Association, is now in agreement with one of the chief policy proposals I have been advocating for years – the reform of party financing laws, to interrupt the cosy relationship between developers and politicians. So, while there are positive omens to be found, I remain haunted by a great deal of concern.
In practical terms, let us use developer Joseph Portelli as a case study. The Times of Malta recently revealed that it is possible that he used criminal declarations of ownership to try and bypass an environmental impact assessment for a major development in Qala. Let us take a moment to remember that this same businessman was behind the scandalous attempt to use the flawed rural policy to build a villa in ODZ in Qala some months ago.
The mayor of Qala is aligned with the country’s governing party, but his anguish at the siege upon his town still seems to be going unheard. Gozo is being systematically pillaged and divided up thanks to an unholy alliance between Gozitan developers and Malta’s rubberstamp authority.
When the Times of Malta story broke on the latest Qala development, the decision to approve the permits was brought forward by some weeks, to take place on the day after the story hit the papers. This hints at collusion between the Planning Authority and developers. The Planning Authority is now still forging ahead to push the destruction of Qala despite pressure from the Democratic Party, civil society, residents and the Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers.
It still seems that in practice, good governance in this country is only being applied to the flashiest incidents which attract international scrutiny. Are we to believe and accept than when a scandal only concerns the environment, then it is not important enough to warrant the scrutiny of the rule of law?
This two weights and two measures approach is an injustice not only to all the people of Malta and Gozo, but is unfair on Minister Farrugia, who I have no doubt has the best of intentions, and deserves to be supported in turning over a new chapter for the country in this sector.
The Environmental Resources Authority needs to be empowered and the Planning Authority needs to be purged and reformed. Look for one issue on which the public can unite, and it is surely a profound sense of disgust and betrayal at the Planning Authority, whose assault upon the nation has surely had ramifications on the mental health, well-being and quality of life of the average citizen.
It is surely no coincidence that the Central Link project was kicked into motion by unknown forces before the new prime minister could take office. Is it possible that the business elite was afraid of a new direction on the environment? If so, their influence is clear, and it must be removed. If this administration is serious about justice, then let it be clear that there can be no justice without environmental justice.
Timothy Alden is interim leader of the Democratic Party.