I’m not ashamed to say I was not in Valletta on June 20. The reason is that, much as I admired the tenacity and clarity of expression of the people at the Front Ħarsien ODZ, I thought their position was docile at best.
They were right to oppose government’s proposal to give a patch of ODZ land to a private entrepreneur. Only I think their stand would have made more sense had they dropped the ODZ bit altogether. Unfortunately they seemed to accept the premise that it was alright for government to sign off public land to private interests, as long as that land was not ODZ.
Which is also why they now find themselves calling the new proposal an improvement. Cospicua is not ODZ (some would say it’s an initialism that comes close, and I take that as a compliment) and that apparently makes it fair game as a tidy liner to Sadeen’s pocket.
I don’t think the new proposal is an improvement, at all. Or rather it is, in the same way as murder by a shot to the head is an improvement over murder by impalement.
The offence in question is made up of very many pieces. First, it leaves unchanged and unresolved the rubbish said by the Prime Minister about the University of Malta being a circle of vested interests lorded over by the few, for the few (his exact words). I’m not prepared to concede anything until that baseless insult to the public institution that produces thousands of graduates a year is explained.
Second, the new location in Żonqor is possibly worse than the original one. As far as the footprint goes, it’s far smaller. But footprint size is not all that matters. The whole thing seems to have moved towards the foreshore, swallowing up the old pool in the process. ODZ or not, foreshore is an ecologically richer and scarcer type than agricultural land.
The Prime Minister tells us that it will still be possible for those of us who are not clients of Sadeen’s to walk and swim there. Case history is not on his side. Portomaso, Smart City, and the beach club known as the ‘national aquarium’ all preach accessibility, in theory. In practice, things are rather different. In any case, access to something we already have access to is hardly a concession.
Third, the script of the whole matter is quite unchanged. The situation still involves the government and a private individual wheeling and dealing behind closed doors on which piece of choice public land to grab, and how best to go about it to financial and political advantage.
I don’t think the new proposal is an improvement at all
Sadeen’s man was present at the first press conference, making funny gestures and bouncing around as if he owned the place. Last Thursday, he was nowhere to be seen. Only we know he’s still very much there, probably making unfunny gestures at us and still behaving as if he owned the place. Which he now does.
I’m amazed at just how pliable people can be. The storyline that has benevolent business interests invest their money for the good of the nation is now part of the catechism. It’s in the chapter that sets out infallible teachings, proclaimed in this case by a thousand popes. The footnote is that the benevolent business interests will only honour us with their money if they are given free stuff (preferably land) first.
I’m all for private entrepreneurship, but that’s the point really. I’d have no problem with a private individual who bought land, applied for the necessary permits, and risked their money.
But back to Cospicua, and to the fourth piece of this dismal puzzle.
We can expect a slew of insufferable rhetoric about how the American University will forever change the miserable lives of the people of Cottonera, how the whole area will regenerate and blossom, and so on. To which I say the unprintable.
The Prime Minister said on Thursday that the naval buildings on Dock Number One will be restored, thanks again to Sadeen’s generosity with my money no doubt.
Thing is, I don’t see how that is supposed to be a good thing.
The unsaid here is that the government has absolutely no initiative or ideas on how to make use of public spaces. The only solution seems to be to hand them over to Whoever Moneybags and let them get on with it.
The one exception at the Cottonera waterfront dates back to when Ugo Mifsud Bonnici worked hard to have the old naval bakeries restored and turned into a wonderful public museum and research institution. Mifsud Bonnici was (is) a conservative. Twenty years on, the progressives have no plot to lose.
The Prime Minister has said that the American University will ‘uplift’ the whole area, just as we were once told the superyachts and the millionaires at the casino would do.
Residents of parts of Swieqi would certainly vouch for the kind of uplift that happens when students descend on a place in their thousands.
But no matter, all’s well that ends well. The Front has its partial victory, and the Prime Minister his PowerPoint presentation and his rent-a-crowd of about-to-be-uplifted southerners.
As for Sadeen, I’m told he’s off on pilgrimage to a bank. As long as no one questions the catechism, it will be one merry journey.
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