A recent call from environmental NGOs asking for Victor Axiak’s removal from his position as head of the Environment and Resources Authority may have come as a bolt out of the blue but it is hardly surprising.
In a scathing open letter to Environment and Planning Minister Aaron Farrugia, the groups listed a long series of misdeeds they attribute to Axiak’s tenure. These include a spate of decisions where, according to them, the environmental watchdog not only failed to carry out its duties but practically acted against environmental interests and in favour of developers and road-builders.
Facts at hand, recent ERA decisions leave a lot more questions than answers.
Take, for example, the scandalous way in which roadworks were carried out in Comino. In any normal society, acts of wanton carelessness and destruction are punished. The ERA, however, approved the works, applying the now-familiar logic of “if it’s broken then make it worse”. Instead of enforcing conditions and dishing out fines (if not police reports), the authority backed down and rolled over.
Other decisions are equally unfathomable. In Burmarrad, a roundabout proposed by Infrastructure Malta foresees the loss of more arable land and an ancient water reservoir. The roundabout, as is now commonly known, will service a supermarket on ODZ land proposed by Bonnici Brothers, who receive millions of euros in direct orders and tenders from Infrastructure Malta.
In spite of over 6,000 objections – a record for any road-building project – and the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage also saying “no”, the ERA found no objection to the take-up of more arable land.
This is tragically consistent with its decisions in Dingli where it approved the uprooting of centuries-old carobs and gave its blessing to an ODZ hotel. Incidentally, the ERA itself was called upon to investigate mysterious trench works carried out by IM in the area, which will presumably service the new hotel; back in 2017, the project was refused by the PA because no water and electricity services were present in the area.
As things stand, the ERA and those in charge of it are complicit in a ruse.
In the current climate, distrust in the institutions is as widespread as it is understandable. However, the NGOs’ accusations towards the ERA have less to do with paranoia and more with the pattern of votes and approvals that would leave anyone perplexed.
Axiak’s response has been far from convincing. “No one has the ability to put me in their pocket,” he claimed. But this reply is baffling because the NGOs never mentioned corruption anywhere in their letter.
Axiak also claimed that his decisions were always based on scientific advice. But this is something nobody can prove, seeing that ERA board meetings are a secretive affair run behind closed doors, without the possibility for citizens to intervene. The PN has joined the assault on the watchdog, calling for more transparency in the way it makes its decisions.
What is evident is that it has either been sedated or has had its teeth pulled out. The separation between the former MEPA and the ERA meant that the latter would always be the poorer of the two authorities. From its inexistent powers to enforce to its chronic understaffing issues, it has little to celebrate for its fifth birthday.
Minister Farrugia may be at pains to remove Axiak from his post but painful decisions are clearly needed. Axiak is far from indispensable, as the NGOs have pointed out.
An environment minister who cannot control his own regulatory authorities looks weak, especially when appointees responding to him greenlight environmentally harmful road-building projects and the destruction of arable land.