On the Apollo 13 space flight in 1970, the astronauts said: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here”. They almost did not make it back to Earth. A combination of human and technical errors formed a series of events with disastrous effects.
Problems move along a chain. Hopefully, if enough safeguards are in place, they will be contained and solved somewhere along the way. Sometimes they bypass all defences and lead to a catastrophe at the end.
The Swiss cheese model of accidents states that the holes in a cheese are sometimes aligned, allowing a straight passage of holes through the entire large cheese.
The government’s ham-handed approach to environmental issues may lead to a political Swiss cheese unless it is addressed soon. The alarming combination of recent proposals is gathering momentum and may spin out of control.
Before the Apollo 13 flight was launched, an apparently slight problem with an oxygen tank was noted.
After the ordeal was over, one of the astronauts, Commander James Lovell, wrote: “With the wisdom of hindsight, I should have said, ‘Hold it. Wait a second. I’m riding on this spacecraft. Just go out and replace that tank.’”
But he did not and the faulty oxygen tank triggered a disastrous chain of events.
The trouble must be recognised at an early stage. Last week, faced with an immediate outcry when plans for a cruise liner terminal in Qala were published, the Prime Minister said he could not see what the fuss was about. I think he may be overlooking a faulty oxygen tank.
With the nation still reeling from the Żonqor proposal, it is not entirely credible that the government cannot understand the outcry. Oh, everyone knew all about the cruise liner terminal ages ago, they said.
Er, actually no, we did not know that a cruise liner terminal was being proposed in that area. We did not know it would include many apartments, villas, retail, leisure, hotel and office facilities outside the development zone (ODZ). We did not know it would require expanding a large road through the Gozitan countryside.
The long-term cost of losing Malta’s countryside is not being factored in
Neither did we know that the terminal and breakwater would be constructed in a marine protected area.
We were also not aware that a university was to be built at Żonqor, on 90,000 square metres of ODZ land, until the proposal had already reached heads of agreement stage.
More people and groups are annoyed at the selection of this ODZ site at Żonqor, than I ever remember on any environmental issue in the recent past.
No problem, the project does not need to be at Żonqor, said the government, trying to calm everyone down.
Please, everyone visit our website, they said bizarrely, and propose sites within the boundaries of the ‘Consultative Council for the South’. These boundaries include 23 localities, ranging from Mqabba to Birżebbuġa to Kalkara. It can be anywhere, we were told, as long as it is in the south.
People scratched their heads to identify a site for this foreign private investor. They donned the hats of Mepa’s planning team, and proposed forts, disused industrial and harbour areas, and brownfield sites all over the south of Malta, for further study.
Then the story shifted again. The major part must be in Marsascala, declared the Prime Minister. Oh dear, does this mean it must be at Żonqor after all? And in spite of this surreal site selection exercise carried out by the entire Maltese nation, on behalf of a Jordanian businessman?
It is expected that all the proposed sites will be gunned down. It is so easy to identify drawbacks. If the government did not want Żonqor, for instance, they would just say it is agricultural land, ODZ, a green lung for the area, or an area of high landscape value. But they will not say that because they want that site. They will, however, point out all the faults of the other sites, to the last detail.
Perhaps they will now put a minor part of the project elsewhere, trying to placate the headlines in the press. The nature park proposal was the first attempt to soften the blow, but it failed dismally.
I do not agree with building more schools in rural areas, but there is a difference between this Jordanian business and a Maltese school. The government has said that unless the Jordanians build in the Maltese countryside, their business will not be feasible. Maltese schools have different aims.
In any case, feasibility does not come into it. Building a private commercial enterprise on ODZ land goes against our planning policies on land use, which are not based on the feasibility of individual projects. The rural policy focuses on the countryside, but it considers uses that are incompatible with urban areas. A university is obviously perfectly compatible with a town.
A private commercial venture should not be built on ODZ land just because it is more expensive to set up shop within the development zones. When the next large project knocks on the government’s door, will they again lay down a red carpet into rural areas for it to be considered feasible?
The long-term cost of losing Malta’s countryside is not being factored in.
petracdingli@gmail.com