I hear several people complain about the substantial and rapid increase in population over the past few years, with several localities under severe pressure because of this.
Some lament the increase in traffic, others the collapse of the health and legal systems or the deterioration of security and the increase in air and noise pollution.
Many are angry about the savage rape of our environment and others about the frantic development that has worn out a great deal of people.
The reality is that we have not seen anything yet! In the coming months and years, our tiny archipelago will face an even larger increase in population.
If one were to analyse the very large projects that are either work-in-progress or in the final stages of planning, it is evident that the population is going to increase in leaps and bounds.
I have analysed planning applications or permits for the following 10 major projects:
The Villa Rosa project and the ITS site project in St George’s Bay; the Xuereb Tower and Mercury Towers in St Julian’s; Town Square in Sliema; the Metropolis and the ST Tower in Gżira; the Shoreline in SmartCity; the Mistra Village development; and the Quad in Mrieħel.
All or most of these projects offer a mix of residential and tourist accommodation, office space, shopping malls and entertainment areas. And the figures are staggering:
We are looking at: an additional 20,300 square metres of new restaurant/bar area; an additional 60,700 square metres of new retail area; an additional 89,000 square metres of new office area; an additional 3,000 apartments of various sizes.
And these figures do not include the numerous smaller-scale developments, spread all over the islands, which are granted development permits every week.
Some of these projects boast of the largest accommodation space, others of the largest shopping malls, or the largest entertainment areas. They all seem to be in a desperate competition to have the largest of anything and everything.
But are developers in the midst of this development frenzy convinced that their projects will not end up as unsustainable white elephants?
We are already seeing reports in the media that the amount of office space on the market has exceeded demand, and that, as a result, requested rents are falling. And this is without the effect of the additional 89,000 square metres that are in the pipeline.
As one can imagine, once these developments are completed, the owners will want to fill them up with people, otherwise they will fail. There cannot be any shadow of a doubt that the only way that these properties can be filled up is by bringing more foreigners to Malta, be they in the form of residents, tourists, employees and what not.
Can you imagine the added stress on our road network system, our health and education, the airport and the power station, the drainage system and even mundane activities such as garbage collection and disposal?
This government has only one aim and that is to win elections at all costs- Noel Muscat
Have the administrators of this country taken any of this into consideration? Have they prepared a carrying capacity exercise? Are they aware of the consequences that this increase in the population is going to bring about?
Rest assured that they have not and that they have no clue whatsoever. The term ‘informed decision making’ is alien to the way the Maltese islands are developing.
One has to ask: is the government being party to a sort of development Ponzi scheme, with early investors doing well and the later ones losing everything?
And has any government entity any idea about whether or not this scale of development is sustainable, that it will not result in not only economic collapse but also social unsustainability?
Unfortunately, we are governed by incapable and confused politicians who are surrounded by a myriad of scandals, corruption and poor decisions.
A government that has burdened the State with a useless and ineffective cabinet of 29 people, a load of clueless boards and authorities populated by persons who are incompetent in the fields concerned and a tremendous increase in unnecessary government employees.
All of these are costing the State a hefty annual wage bill that must be met.
Payment of these wages and of the myriad of vote-seeking handouts comes from our mind-blowing national debt, which is now close to €10 billion, and which is costing the country almost €4 million a week to service.
A true Ponzi situation, where parts of the population benefit from haphazard ruses now and ignore the fact that today’s greed and lack of foresight will have to be paid for by future generations.
This government has only one aim and that is to win elections at all costs.
This country is in a total mess. This country has no direction. We are at a loss. All systems are down.
Morality isn’t on the radar anymore. People must wake up to face reality.
A change is an absolute must. Only people can bring about this change.
Noel Muscat is the mayor of Swieqi.