Over the past week there’s been a lot of talk about the Constitution being breached because of the way judicial appointments are being made. It’s as if there is this sudden realisation that there’s a supreme law of the land and it is being breached.
Well, I hate to point it out but the Constitution has been breached every day for years and it continues to be breached. What’s more, we taxpayers are paying for this disregard of the Constitution and there isn’t much of a hoo-ha about it.
Here is what’s happening on an every day basis: When someone feels that his human rights are being breached because a law is unconstitutional, he can file a court case requesting a declaration that the law is unconstitutional and also requesting compensation.
Over the years, the Constitutional courts have decided that certain laws are unconstitutional and awarded millions of euros to citizens by way of compensation. In theory, such unconstitutional laws should be repealed as soon as the court deems them to be unconstitutional. What happens in practice, is that Parliament ignores the situation, citizens keep on suing and the taxpayer keeps on shelling out to pay for their legislators’ inaction.
• So Swieqi Valley is set to become the next tourist village. In a startlingly innovative manner (not), the developers have proposed that the project be spread across 13,000 square metres of green land. And then, of course, there are the utterly predictable residential units, pools, a chapel, a spa and a restaurant.
You know, it’s the total lack of originality that gets me every time. Forget the environmental considerations for a minute. Forget the need for green belts and desperately needed breathing spaces. Forget the fact that we’re well on the way to a situation where every single town and village is merged into one undifferentiated building site. Forget every notion of biodiversity and natural scenery and all the panoramic vistas they keep on featuring on postcards. That’s all gone now. Been there and ruined that, and all that.
But pause for a minute and think of what is being proposed here, and see if it doesn’t resemble practically every single investment proposal that has been made in the past 20 years or so. Because when you think about it, you will realise that all the Maltese do is real estate, in one way or another.
Our idea of pulling tourists is to build more concrete boxes to house them in
There is little attempt at diversification or encouraging creativity or services, other than those that revolve around building up land. Practically every major government project is really a real estate deal in disguise. From the White Rocks Sports Village (yes, another village) proposed by the PN, to Austin Gatt’s Smart City (long since turned into a pussy palace for the holding of cat shows and now soon to be a hotel), to Hani Hasan Naji Al Salah’s pretend ‘university’ at Żonqor Point, to countless others. They all have one thing in common – they are all real estate ventures with little add-ons.
Now, apart from being of some concern because over-dependence on real estate projects is resource-sapping and unsustainable, the trend shows that we lack originality. We have no idea of how to create different experiences for visitors or of how to develop a service economy.
Our idea of pulling tourists is to build more concrete boxes to house them in. Yes, there’s the spa addition. But in the land of a thousand Chinese spa and massage parlours, I fail to see how this is going to be such a unique draw. It’s all so derivative and bland.
At the moment, tourism is booming and nobody cares very much about the long-term prospects. But what will happen if some other place steals our tourism crown or the visitor flow decreases? All over the world there’s this shift towards experience-based tourism, where visitors get to enjoy different activities in their destinations.
Besides appreciating the beauty or uniqueness of the place, tourists get to appreciate local traditions and take in the unique atmosphere of their destination. The way we’re heading I can’t see how we’re gearing ourselves for this experience-based tourism – unless, of course, we tap into some new market of people with a fetish for concrete and 50 sizes of crane.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt