I cry for thee o Sliema

Sliema today. Whether one looks north or south, east or west a hideous tower crane stares you in the face. These cold contraptions symbolise the cancer which is turning a once peaceful, pleasant and environment-friendly town into a noisome, dreary and over-polluted town.

Building permits are being issued left, right and centre without any forward thinking or little long-term planning. Despite the residents' strong objections, whose rights are being trampled upon, new high-rise, uninviting, profit-orientated buildings are mushrooming everywhere.

One cannot but look with scepticism and misgiving, after years of neglect, at the sudden interest being displayed by Sliema's local council and certain politicians. Many a resident feels that he has been let down by his elected representatives who instead of defending his rights is riding roughshod over them. The projected plan for Sliema is anti-resident and pro greedy developers.

Instead of embellishing Qui-si-Sana seafront and preserving an irreplaceable heritage for our children, a handful of developers are being allowed to inflict irreparable damage and to defile the zone. Traffic orientated pollution will increase tenfold.

The proposed plan to build a car park (or a smokescreen for another Paceville) and to convert the commercial centre in Bisazza Street/Tower Road into a pedestrian area and no parking zone will cause more problems than it will solve. Taking away from would-be shoppers their convenient parking space will discourage them from shopping in the traditional commercial centre and they will instead be attracted to the newly planned commercial outlets at Qui-si-Sana by the offer of parking space on the very doorstep.

The re-routing of traffic through Qui-si-Sana seafront will facilitate access to the development taking place at Tigné peninsula and at Qui-si-Sana but will ruin a once peaceful residential zone.

The ideal place to build a car park is along The Strand and Tigné Front by reclaiming land, where there is enough space to have a dual carriage-way for traffic from and to Tigné peninsula.

This plan would also boost the commercial and recreational activities along the Strand which unlike Qui-si-Sana is sheltered and more tourist orientated. Subsidiary car parks could be built at Font Ghadir, Balluta and Spinola Bays. Such a plan is not detrimental to anyone and will stimulate business in The Strand area.

The spacious, graceful houses of characters which once adorned Sliema seafront are gone and instead developers regale us with monstrous profit-orientated apartments.

We have seen the demise of a historical, popular and very much missed club. The tower crane next to the Preluna Hotel (a tourist venue) has more or less become a permanent landmark. Across the road the derelict and dangerous Chalet still stands, a reminder of better times. The high-rise buildings on the side streets have turned them into wind tunnels.

While Minister George Pullicino preaches environmental protection, developers dump all sort of building materials with impunity. They park their monstrous equipment anywhere it suits them, mutilating the pavements and damaging the streets which remain unrepaired for months on end. They subject the residents to all sorts of inconveniences: excessive noise and dust pollution, traffic jams, damage to third party properties etc.

Many of the long suffering residents of Sliema are very angry with their local council as they feel that they have been betrayed. They want a council that works closely with them on all fronts, acting upon their legitimate complaints, worries, requests and suggestions. In short, a resident-oriented and not developer-orientated council.

The island belongs to the people and no one has got the right to give public land to third parties especially if this goes against the interest of the people. The situation is simply scandalous. It makes one wonder who rules the country.