The government was not ignoring public sentiment on major development projects and had already shown it could be flexible when it came to the popular expectations, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said.

The Office of the Prime Minister was contacted after it was claimed that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had privately told an environmentalist he did not care about the social impact construction projects would have on residents.

Astrid Vella, a spokesman of NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, last week said Dr Muscat had told her the public would get used to any new projects, no matter the size, and so assessments of their impact were superfluous.

Speaking during a protest organised by Sliema residents against a number of high-rise projects, Ms Vella said there were witnesses to what Dr Muscat has said on the effects such projects would have on people’s lives but she did not mention any names.

Far from ‘not caring’ the government commissioned a social impact assessment

She said Dr Muscat was speaking during an informal meeting with NGOs on the private university campus being developed outside of a development zone in Żonqor Point, Marsascala.

“If he felt that way, then, well, I have no reason to believe that his position would have changed in the slightest,” Ms Vella replied when asked about what she reported the Prime Minister had said.

But, the spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office denied such claims, insisting “this was never and is definitely not the Prime Minister’s position”.

“Far from ‘not caring’ and, as a state of fact, the government commissioned a social impact assessment on the American University of Malta project,” the spokesman said. Furthermore, the government had kept an “open door policy” with all environmental NGOs throughout the process and had even changed the initial proposal to make sure it better reflected people’s expectations, he added.

Residents have applied for the issue of a court injunction with regard to the Townsquare high-rise project. They say no social impact assessment was carried out on the proposed 34-storey building.

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