I will never forget the words of the St Petersburg palace guide when she was asked how Russia had managed to restore its destroyed palaces straight after WWII when so many were starving: “We may have been the beggars of Europe,” was her fiery retort, “but we would have starved to death for our palaces, they are our pride!”
How many of us could honestly say that about our heritage? Certainly not our authorities, who have allowed so many palaces and gardens to be demolished to make way for shoebox apartments. Or the planning authority, which steadfastly refused to carry out its duty to ensure that developers preserved their scheduled buildings instead of allowing them to deteriorate in the hope that they would be allowed to demolish them.
Heritage should have a triple value for us, because not only are many old buildings aesthetically beautiful, built in a time when harmony, proportion and balance meant something, but they are part of our identity. They are what makes us Maltese, steeped in a rich culture we should treasure and not betray an inferiority complex by trying to mimic Dubai and Singapore, countries that may be rich in money but are less so in culture.
These heritage sites have inestimable value in attracting tourists, the backbone of our economy. Take Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John at St John’s Co-Cathedral. Can a price be put to that masterpiece?
Similarly, can we put a price on the iconic view of Mdina, which is going to be marred forever by the construction of four massive towers at Mrieħel, blocking the protected view corridor between Valletta and the old capital?
Whoever bowed to the instructions to add Mrieħel to the shortlist of sites suitable for high-rises is guilty of betraying our heritage
We may not be able to put a price on it but someone else has: 30 pieces of silver!
Whoever at the planning authority bowed to the instructions to add Mrieħel to the shortlist of sites suitable for high-rises is guilty of betraying our heritage, as did those who approved the developers’ photomontages that violated official guidelines in being shot with a wide-angle lens to make the towers seem twice as distant and inconspicuous.
I am sure that many feel a sense of achievement in presenting incorrect or outdated studies, as long as it earns them a dubious permit and millions of euros.
But can they sleep knowing they’ve submitted a geology report that hides the fact that middle globigerina limestone, the weakest possible rock, is present under part of the Townsquare site?
Or that another project is resting on the edge of an eroding rock face?
As for Transport Malta’s declaration that traffic in Sliema has decreased, well, that is pure comic relief – were it not for the fact that the extra 5,768 cars to be generated by the Townsquare and Fort Cambridge sites will emit more toxic fumes to be trapped in Tigne’s narrow streets and sicken its residents.
Similarly, the declaration by the Water Services Corporation that our infrastructure is up to the job is chilling when one sees the sewage flowing down the Sliema seawall, straight into the Fond Għadir baby pool, where unsuspecting parents bathe their little ones, who unsurprisingly develop all sorts of infections.
It is always heartening to hear of Malta’s economic progress in the news and to learn that we have the lowest unemployment in the EU.
Thus, since we actually don’t need the construction industry to create jobs for a Maltese workforce or to provide homes, since we have 42,000 empty properties, what is it achieving other than enriching a few deep pockets while ruining the health and quality of life of so many?
Are our leaders really so culturally and morally impoverished that they will allow the ruination of even more of our heritage just to enrich their cronies?
If that is to be the case, then I would say that, in spite of our wealth, we are truly the beggars of Europe.
Astrid Vella is coordinator of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.