Regain paradise lost

One of the few remaining unspoilt areas of natural beauty in Malta is on the verge of being ruined by unscrupulous so-called developers.

Families, friends, birds and bees have been enjoying this rocky area teeming with wild thyme (saghtar) during the close hunting season (as it has also been designated as reserved for bird hunters). The public had easy access to this rough terrain area known as Xaghra ta' Girdellu, Mgiebah, in Mellieha (directions: proceed to the road opposite the Belleview Bar and Restaurant alongside the petrol station, and when you reach the Y intersection take the upper Kortin Road and after about 200 metres proceed onto the rough rocks on the right-hand side) whereby anybody could enjoy the scenic natural beauty including views of Mellieha Bay on one side and the Selmun Castle and Palace Hotel on the other side.

From time to time various land speculators showed up accompanied by surveyors and their tripods in attempts to deprive the public from going there and ruin it for their own selfish personal enjoyment but the laws of the land have managed to preserve it so far.

The other day, to the disgust of nature lovers in the vicinity of this area, a small room was quickly erected on the horizon where the rough rocks meet the blue sea. This ugly structure sticks out like a sore thumb in the distance and mars the beautiful scenery. No other country in the world would allow such an illegal construction.

On June 14, 2004, I went to the Mepa offices in Floriana and reported this matter to Furtu Caruana, enforcement officer II, who was kind enough to show me the area on the computer monitor indicated as a rough terrain but outside the scope of building permit region, i.e. marked as rural area on which no building was permitted. Before I left he assured me that Mepa will be investigating the matter.

In the following days, from a distance of about one kilometre, one could see heavy vehicles dumping material on the rocks and fauna leading to the newly constructed room. I phoned up Mr Caruana of Mepa who, in turn, informed me that Mepa was still investigating.

On June 17, I called at Mellieha local council and was directed to talk to Carmel Debono, executive secretary, about the matter. Mr Debono was very understanding and had a good knowledge of the area I was referring to even pointing out that there is a World War II watchtower somewhere in that location whereby I surmised that this could have some historical importance. He assured me that the local council keeps a close monitoring of building applications for the Mellieha region and he had no knowledge of an application for the area. He told me he will coordinate with Mepa on this matter and will let me know.

On June 18, on seeing the little paradise being spoiled further, I contacted Mepa again and on asking once more whether their inspectors had investigated the matter was told that mine was not the only complaint they had to cope with and was directed to contact Charles Gafà on telephone 2290 3056 being the building inspector for the Mellieha area. When I dialled the number provided I was told that Mr Gafà had been on sick leave that week.

On realising that no progress was being made on stopping the rape of this scenic natural beauty, I decided to take the bull by the horns and try to make my own investigations.

Thus, on June 19 I attempted to go and meet with the persons who had been doing so much damage to this little paradise and try to make them realise what they had done. But being Saturday, none of the culprits were around. As I approached the illegal construction, I observed that the culprits had tried to cover up their sin by plastering rough stones to the room and, while attempting to make it oblivious, had made it more conspicuous instead.

Moreover, I also observed that a considerable amount of gravel and rubble had been dumped on the rocks and wild thyme in order to crudely construct a road leading to a public road known as Kortin Road, about half a kilometre away and from which slabs from the boundary wall were removed to construct an opening. If this has been done without the relevant permits, then this certainly constitutes criminal action of wilful destruction of public property. This calls for immediate ex-officio police intervention and prosecution.

To add insult to injury, I finally noticed that a barrier had been erected at the entrance to this new road marked Private No Entry. What had been a public access area of natural beauty had suddenly become private property and I had unwittingly and unintentionally trespassed on such claimed private property.

One also wonders how this gem of natural beauty had suddenly become a private property when it had been so freely accessible to the public at large just a few days ago. As far as is know most of the land in this area had been bequeathed to the Catholic Church to conduct Masses for the souls of the departed and same was eventually transferred to the government by an Act of Parliament. Had the Church sold it to third parties before the relative Act was passed or has some insider trading taken place by selling public land to certain individuals with prior knowledge that this land, supposed to be preserved for future generations, was to be released for building purposes in spite of the fact that there is over 30 per cent of vacant buildings in Malta? I was under the impression that overnight millionaires made rich by insider trading in land dealings were a thing of the past and that this is now illegal. It is so in most developed countries including those of the EU but all is possible in this island of sun, sea and limited natural resources.

Or could this possibly be just another land scam deal similar to that reported recently in one of the Sunday newspapers? I do not have the resources to find out about this but perhaps it would be in the authorities' and in the public interest to investigate and find out whether such a land property deal had been done in a regular manner.

It is a pity that, while civilised countries larger than ours protect their natural environment in the most stringent manner, in our small island we allow unscrupulous land speculators to destroy our limited natural heritage.

It is no wonder then that the Maltese citizens are losing their trust in the institutions of the land. I sincerely hope that all those who have the preservation of our environment at heart would make a concerted effort to save ix-Xaghra ta' Girdellu, Mgiebah, in Mellieha from being a paradise lost to a paradise regained.