One of Robert Abela’s biggest issues, besides the loud protests from a sizeable chunk of this electorate and the indistinct, yet audible groaning of his parliamentary group, is that our prime minister is deeply unaware of the concept of limits. There’s a deep-seated hypocrisy in the way he’s trying to make amends with his electorate.
Some days ago, Abela announced the local plan will be tweaked to put an end to the possibility of a yacht marina in Marsascala, and that the proposed model plane strip in Wied Żnuber, Birżebbuġa, will be “downscaled” while the buffer zone around the valley turned to ODZ.
Both towns, historical Labour strongholds, have had to fight to preserve their open spaces: Marsascala bared its teeth to the marina before the general election, while Birżebbuġa was up in arms shortly after. As the MEP and local council elections loom, Abela’s desperately trying to plug the haemorrhage of votes in his hometown and constituency.
Yet, the bold proclamations in parliament are followed up by underhanded manoeuvring elsewhere.
While Abela promises that everyone will have an open space available within a 10-minute walk from their home, the Planning Authority is approving apartment blocks at a distance of 150 metres from a protected UNESCO heritage site.
The contentious development had long been flagged as a threat to the Ġgantija Temples, and the Planning Authority went ahead with its vote despite a request from UNESCO for a heritage impact assessment. The PA has given yet another sign that the interests of developers are more important than anything else, indeed higher than the considerations of the United Nations’ agency for education, science and cultural organisation.
UNESCO can just as easily withdraw the special status granted to Ġgantija in 1980. It would be a trophy for barbarism, projected onto the rest of the country by the Planning Authority’s abominable decisions. Coming to think of it, most were under the impression that the 1980s were dark years in Malta.
PA chairman Emmanuel Camilleri stated that the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage did not ask the authority to carry out a heritage impact assessment. He thus limited himself to rubber stamp the approval of the development, as if the fate of a world heritage site like Ġgantija ought to be a matter of paperwork.
If only the law would allow for Camilleri, Superintendent Kurt Farrugia and other decision makers to be held responsible for their actions (or lack thereof), this orchestrated nonsense would simply not happen.
The prime minister has frequently, yet selectively, referred to certain applications as non-starters (such as the hotel in Birkirkara) and indicated a surprising will to regulate loopholes which currently allow developers to work on projects under appeal (as with the Mistra complex in Xemxija).
At the same time, the authority ploughs on with permits such as the Ġgantija howler, and is set to approve an asphalt plant in an Mqabba ODZ, just 500 metres away from residences. There are applications to rezone government land in Qajjenza, for eight-storey developments by the sea (fronted by a board member of the MDA who has also bought an open space in Qortin, Mellieħa, also to be rezoned and developed).
It’s not new for Abela to promise planning reforms, only to be contradicted by his authorities (and electoral donors) within 24 hours. The PM may think his sudden rebalancing act will fly, but only because he underestimates his electorate. But the public’s alleged gullibility has its limits.
Rampant dishonesty in planning alone should spur residents across Malta to challenge developers’ power over the major parties. The local council elections in June are the best way to kickstart the resistance.