Telemalta George

Not all of us suffer from amnesia as badly as Minister George Pullicino seems to hope. After years without a telephone, which were in absurdly short supply under a former Labour government, those who had applied for one were given the insolent sop days before an election when Telemalta knocked on their doors and installed a telephone set without giving them a connection. It was meant to give them pre-electoral hope. It was a tremendous slap in the face. Mr Pullicino must think that it worked for Labour and why not for him. Instead of a telephone set he has supplied us all with a new Planning Bill.

My father's legal practice went to the dogs under a Labour Administration after he received a crippling telephone bill he had never run up. He refused to pay. It was precisely what Telemalta wanted him to do. The service was removed and his number handed over to somebody else. He was out of touch with his clients for four long years. Who cared that he was the sole breadwinner in a family of eight? He was politically expendable. It was not even an act of political vindictiveness. He was simply collateral damage. On the eve of the 1987 election Telemalta employees turned up with a shiny new telephone set which was unconnected to the network. It did not persuade my father to vote Labour.

Mr Pullicino has been responsible for what goes by the name of planning in Malta for the past several years. On his shoulders rests the responsibility for the extension of the development zones in 2006 in the face of an unprecedented property surplus and in defiance of EU legislation: 53,000 vacant properties, a ghost town that would stretch from Pembroke to Qormi including Ħamrun and Birkirkara and everywhere in between. He bears responsibility for the relaxation of height limitations across the country, which have turned every newly-settled area into a building site once more.

He knows full well that this immense surplus can never be utilised. At two persons per property, it would mean an increase in population of over 100,000. How could we ever supply them all with the basics of water and electricity services? In what way does his Bill address this permanent damage?

Which of the wonderful promises of his new Bill can reverse the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) policy adopted by Mepa in defiance of existing Maltese laws and EU regulations to encourage the construction of high-rise development when there is clearly no need for it? The skyscraper in Xemxija will allow its residents a view of Gozo. It will sell amazingly well on plan. All other properties in the area will be devalued, literally and metaphorically put in the shade.

Rushing to present his Bill to Parliament in a blatant parliamentary stunt, he admits that such basic reforms have been necessary all along. It has been within his power to give power to the people for years. He has preferred to promise them power, perhaps, if he is re-elected, maybe, if he then finds the time, if nothing crops up, if the developers do not object.

What the Bill does not promise is that ministers will no longer interfere with the workings of the planning regulator; that no minister will personally contact technocrats and show them which recommendations he wants them to make. How does his Bill ensure that auditors' reports are not suppressed? That they are excluded from public view until it is too late? How does his Bill ensure that the government will not continue on its fait accompli policy coming up with poorly-sited infrastructural facilities at the last minute and accusing objectors with treachery when they are made out to be placing EU funding at risk? How does the Bill prevent a minister making a sham of the planning process as Mr Pullicino has been accused of doing by the Church Environment Commission? Will his new Bill give him the courage finally to accept my challenge to a televised debate on his bulldozer tactics? Will he finally dare publish the full version of my speech at Marsascala?

What in his Bill gives any guarantee that, returned to office, he will not once more enthusiastically endorse the application of private funds gathered by Mepa in deferred parking fees ostensibly to build a public car park which turns out to be a car park for the entertainment facilities to be built into the project? How does his Bill stop him repeating his Qui-Si-Sana car park extravaganza?

How will his Bill prevent his colleagues from running roughshod over heritage and environmental considerations as Minister Ninu Zammit has done, building over the Roman port in Marsa, turning Wied Babu, Żurrieq into an urban promenade and wasting public money in absurd embellishment of a rare, wooded area in Cottonera? Mepa auditor's reports fully document all this.

How can anyone believe that a Nationalist minister known for his consistent bulldozer tactics can be the one to introduce legislation to give objectors and site neighbours a break? Site neighbours all over the country who feel that they have been exploited for years can only watch and listen with bitter contempt.

As long as we live, the uglification of the country which has taken place over the last several years will be a burden on our quality of life. Nobody will reverse it. It is our poisoned legacy to all future generations. What we can and must do is to put an end to the destruction of what is left and which becomes ever more precious. Mr Pullicino cannot even begin to promise that.

A Green Environment Minister does not need to promise anything. His or her very presence is an assurance of transparency and accountability. We will not be demanding last-minute resignations in electoral displays of virtue as was done in the case of Catherine Galea. We will not make improper appointments in the first place. Everybody knows this and everybody believes this. Green credibility in planning and environment protection is unassailable. It is what the country needs and wants, not a last-minute unenforceable Bill before Parliament. Carmel Cacopardo replacing Mr Pullicino as the minister responsible for planning would be a critical achievement for the country. It is only weeks away.

All it takes is the determination of a mere 2,500 people in any one of the 13 electoral districts to put a Green in Parliament, in government. We are definitely going to make it. It was the response of thousands to the fake telephone version of politics in 1987, to the insolence and the arrogance of a last-minute promise. It will be again. Thank you Mr Pullicino. Your promises of reform are promises but your electioneering may yet bring about a reform far more profound than you can begin to imagine. Only the Greens can promise an end to Telemalta politics. You have made it crystal clear.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - the Green party.