I too have been following closely the proposed ODZ university rumpus. Same goes for all other development issues or project ideas. Then, the report about another monstrosity being considered for Sliema (two towers, including one rising to 40 floors), inevitably made me utter: “Now we’re there!”
‘There’ stands for a situation I have been foreseeing for a long time, namely that the limits to development have long been reached. From now on, whatever the developers, the speculators, the politicians, the architects or notaries, even some environmentalists, may write or say, the fact is that the Maltese islands are just a 17 miles by nine land mass.
We are now at the stage where we are destined to either further degradation or some key people having the courage to take cruel decisions. Either yes or no. No halfway measures, no quibbling about with funny statements like “sustainable development”, no subterfuges or tricks.
We are faced with a whole series of realities that simply nobody can deny. We have an ever-increasing number of long-vacant and unutilised properties which beckon for a whole series of courageous measures, both legal and fiscal. Tax them hard if they remain empty and unused for, say, over two years. Give the building industry a clear choice of either them getting to work on these properties or risk facing ever more no’s from Mepa to whatever projects they may dream of.
Get the building industry involved in beautifying the island, not uglifying it. Even if someone were to decide that all pavements were to be brought up to scratch, there is enough work there for the industry for at least a decade and they must be forced to work on that, not on more ‘building’ jobs. Same for the countryside rubble walls, landscaping and maintenance works on both private and government properties.
We are now at the point of absolutely having to make clear and brave choices
Our historical heritage, on which a lot has been done recently, still has some big and gaping needs for restoration works. Either the building industry accepts to dedicate itself more wholeheartedly to these types of works or no permits.
Another now badly needed decision is to designate certain towns as ‘no further development’ areas. The whole of Sliema and St Julian’s should be the first to benefit from such a status. St Paul’s Bay can follow and, later, places like Xlendi and so on.
Tackle head-on the estate agents. All they are interested in is selling or renting ‘property’, basically anywhere.
Their latest mantra is: “So many foreign workers are coming to Malta and we need to place them in attractive residences... hence, we need ever more and more quality apartments or villas or whatever.” What contribution are these agents making to the big debate about the fact Malta has reached the point of unsustainability before anywhere else?
The little land we have has to meet so many types of demands. We need land for residences, workplaces, roads, public purposes, agriculture, health purposes and for environmental balance. And that balance is, again, so hard to reach in a small place such as ours, where we simply do not have enough land mass.
Yes, we have now long reached the stage where every single inch of these islands is a very delicate question of choice: protect or destroy, for us and for our children and our children’s children. And, with the number of individuals and communities growing, so is the total population of these islands and you can only cram x quantum of sardines into whatever size of box you have (in our case it is a very, very small box), beyond which there will inevitably be disaster, social and environmental.
There is also the issue of how much illegal migration we can allow. There are limits, even on the fronts of land and space. So, we are now there, at the point of absolutely having to make clear and brave choices. Let’s stop talking about “sustainable development” (the expression has long been making me cringe) and think more in terms of the elastic band which, in our case, is regularly and increasingly snapping. We must, therefore, be brave enough to say no rather than yes.
If anyone insists on disregarding this truth and carry on regardless then one would inevitably be condemning Malta and its people to becoming a very unhappy lot. That too, sociology tells us, can often surprise us all with some very nasty events.
One last thing, there once existed in Malta something called ‘the textiles industry’. It’s no longer here and no worker has died of hunger through its demise. We should be thinking the same about the building and construction industry. If the number of builders, contractors, speculators, even workers in this industry (direct or through its offshoots) were to be forced to be cut by, say, half, there would be no economic disaster whatsoever in the country.
We are now there... at the simple point of no return.
Will everyone accept this truth? I doubt it, us being us.
John Consiglio teaches economics at the University of Malta