As the population continues to receive daily reminders to remain indoors as much as possible, the ongoing construction in various parts of Malta is having an increasingly negative effect on community well-being.
Emergency physician Jonathan Joslin was among the first last month to raise the issue, which was echoed in a recent survey commissioned by the Richmond Foundation.
It is interesting that the alarms being raised concern the same industry but approach it from very different angles. Joslin highlights the slew of construction-related injuries that take precedence at the hospital.
He explained that a large percentage of major trauma incidents handled by the emergency department result from construction sites, draining resources from the ongoing pandemic.
Richmond Foundation takes another perspective, focusing on the negative repercussions being experienced by the housebound. This includes senior citizens, people with children and other individuals who are spending more time in their homes.
Some people are being forced out of their homes, in conflict with public health provisions, in order to escape the daily barrage of noise pollution caused by construction sites. Stress levels are already high due to the uncertainty that the COVID-19 situation and the implemented prevention measures have brought about.
Unfortunately, the data seems to show that the expectation of home as a space of sanctuary is not borne out in the lived reality of Malta.
Remaining at home during the outbreak has a twofold purpose, both to stem risks of viral contagion while also allowing people to adjust to a necessary new sense of normality. Boosting individual immunity during times of medical concern should be a top priority for public health authorities.
However, the government appears to be failing in its duty to support public health in this endeavour, by insisting, in regard to the building industry, that economic investment trumps citizens’ well-being.
There is a clear need for quarantined people to have respite from excavation, noise and dust, both of which aggravate the dangerous dips in well-being that are being pinpointed by Malta’s mental health professionals.
Countering this are arguments of the purported need for the building industry to keep up its activities, for the sake of employment and the economy.
Yet, the legitimacy of the industry and its activities are far from certain. Chamber of Architects president Simone Vella Lenicker recently made this clear, stating that she hopes a silver lining of the COVID-19 outbreak will be a slowing down of development.
In her statement, Vella Lenicker cautioned about the need to ensure that Maltese practice is effectively aligned with international regulations.
The lack of safety, persistent noise and questionable regulation of the construction industry was an ongoing issue before the outbreak.
The death of Miriam Pace, after her home collapsed in Ħamrun, hangs over the entire industry and the reality remains that many of us will continue to live next door to construction sites.
There appears to be no easy resolution of the conflict between citizens’ well-being and economic interests.
In fact, recent reports indicate that a total of 18,518 development permits have been given a three-year grace period by the Planning Authority, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
All of which is to say that, unless more drastic measures are urgently undertaken, the construction industry’s persistent threats to community well-being are here to stay.