Development zones

It is a shame that the government has taken this country back to the dark 1980s with this meddling in the development boundaries. In a country where all of us are appalled by the present state of the environment and building mania, this is a terrible shock.

Why, I ask myself, has the government all of a sudden overriden Mepa, which by its autonomy was gaining some respect for at least trying to analyse and regulate the situation, and is now acting like a ghost from the past? The government should be there for all citizens, not just the greedy developers. Don't they have enough with 23 per cent of all units on the island deserted and waiting to be sold?

This destruction of large green areas (as declared under the local plans) near residential zones will devalue the property near or facing these areas and reduce living conditions of those affected, making them unbearable, something which the buyers thought about avoiding when they paid a bit more for the area.

This amounts to a vindictive move against good people, valid citizens who still have loans to pay and children to raise, hopefully in a clean, quiet area. We will never forget, not in any election.

I, for one, would claim financial compensation from this and any government who changes the goal posts so unfairly and inconsiderately for the common citizens to accommodate some mega contractor who, after all, in spite of his money, has the same rights under the Constitution of Malta as any of us.