There is a widespread mood of revulsion at the course being steered by this government in its assault on Malta’s architecture and environment. The public reaction to the transfer of public land at Żonqor Point and the formation of yet another mass civil movement organisation, Front Ħarsien ODZ, was its first manifestation.

In the wake of the deeply unpopular Townsquare and Mrieħel towers decision by the Planning Authority, there have even been calls for a boycott of two businesses – Gasan Group and Tumas Group – directly connected to the projects. There is a prevalent feeling that successive governments in Malta are in the pockets of big business.

It was to general public approval, therefore, that a direct action group, Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent has turned its guns on the big business Midi Consortium at Manoel Island. The consortium was given a highly lucrative land deal by the then Nationalist administration 16 years ago to build apartments at Tignè Point and to restore Fort Manoel and develop a luxury “Mediterranean-style village” on the island.

The high density Tignè Point development is virtually complete. But 16 years later, apart from an excellent restoration of Fort Manoel (which the public is barred from enjoying), the island itself remains undeveloped and dilapidated. The public has simply been locked out of it.

The legal position appears to be quite clear. The concession granted to Midi of a 99-year emphyteusis gives them only one third of the total area of Manoel Island, with the foreshore – as Francis Zammit Dimech the then Nationalist minister for the environment, who was present at the negotiations, has stressed – being specifically excluded from the contract. The recently-enacted Public Domain Act automatically classifies the first 15 metres of the coastline and the country’s sea-bed as being public domain sites.

Unless the terms of the contract which Midi signed 16 years ago and the Public Domain Act – enacted with bipartisan agreement by both the government and the Opposition – are to be ignored or there is some other, as yet unknown, commitment, there can be no stopping the public from having access to the Manoel Island foreshore. (The same could also apply ipso facto to the Tignè foreshore.)

The foreshore is not reserved to Midi, nor should access to it any longer be denied by it. Despite the claim by the consortium to the contrary, it is doubtful whether it is a legal argument that could be sustained under the new law or, indeed, under the terms of their own contract.

There is also a wider issue at stake. For the people of Gżira, Ta’ Xbiex and Sliema, Manoel Island is the only natural open space in an otherwise heavily-populated, urbanised and traffic-polluted area. The case for the two thirds of Manoel Island that do not form part of the Midi Consortium’s lease to become a public park are unarguable and should be pursued further by the government.

The Gasan Group, the Tumas Group (responsible also for the environmentally-controversial Portomaso), the Midi Consortium and other big business interests are increasingly being seen as the unacceptable face of capitalism. There is a groundswell of public discontent at the way ordinary citizens’ interests and their legitimate right to enjoy the environment are being consistently sidelined in favour of vested commercial interests. It has found a powerful voice in Townsquare, Żonqor Point and the ‘Occupy Manoel Island Movement’.

It is time for this government to reset the balance in favour of the common good, not big business.