Christmas is fast approaching. Children are starting to query what Santa will surprise them with. In their naiveté, they draw up wish lists hoping that Santa will deliver.
Has Santa arrived earlier this year in Paceville? The recently published Paceville master plan is a slick marketing package. Beyond the gloss, this document is a compilation of wish lists.
The document identifies nine sites for development. The sites fit tightly as a glove with the recently published mega developments proposals by private investors, in which 22 high-rise towers are set to be constructed. Is this coincidental or a back-room arrangement dated pre-March 2013?
Is this master plan an attempt to keep the ‘chosen ones’ happy? If so, are some investors/developers more equal than others?
This perception was reinforced when it was confirmed that submissions by Tumas Group regarding land reclamation were forwarded to the consultants. One may argue that what has been published so far differs from what the developers actually want. This may be a cunning strategy. The proposals are purposely exaggerated only to be scaled down to appease Joe Public. In reality, the developers get what they envisaged to get in the first place.
It worked wonders in the case of Żonqor point.
“Would it be great if Paceville could change?” the voice in the promo asks. We are all in agreement. Paceville longs for a major changeover. The piecemeal approach has failed. It turned this peaceful area into a degenerated, overdeveloped, overcrowded, over-commercialised and aesthetically poor locality.
The few remaining residents, mostly elderly, are living a nightmare. Being a mecca of entertainment, Paceville doesn’t ‘sleep’. People have been murdered, beaten and raped there. The local council is overwhelmed, has insufficient resources and is helpless in front of certain cowboys who consider the rule of law as optional.
Sadly, in Paceville the law-of-the-jungle rules are steered by one golden rule: money. Money talks and takes one to high places. Enforcement is almost negligible. How many revellers were booked for relieving themselves in public? How many drug pushers were arrested? How many were booked for serving alcohol in a glass or for breaching their commercial licence conditions regarding noise pollution and pavement obstruction?
Recently, a brave young gentleman had to threaten to go on a hunger strike to have his well-deserved sleep. Do residents all have to go on a hunger strike to sleep? What happened to the procedures against the owners of a club where a glass banister collapsed and a number of young people were injured?
Being a mecca of entertainment, Paceville doesn’t ‘sleep’. People have been murdered, beaten and raped there
Putting aside the residents’ concerns is not an integrated approach at all. Residents and the social fabric are part of Paceville’s equation. It seems that the remit given was only about construction. For example, residents in St George’s Park were ignored as indeed were owners of small businesses in the area. How will all this improve the quality of life?
Although the consultants stated that they gathered all information, not only no information was sought from residents or from the local council but the PA refused our invitation to meet the public. Public consultation without the involvement of the public. And no social impact assessment was commissioned.
The document envisages that the population will increase from 2,000 to 9,000. This is incorrect. One needs to add the tourists staying there and the thousands of young people who throng the area throughout the week. With these growing numbers, the master plan fails to identify any community facilities suchas a police station, a clinic, public conveniences and other community facilities. Will the local council receive additional funds to keep the new infrastructure going?
The master plan is proposing a number of open spaces. This is a good proposal. Yet the indicated areas are currently built up.
This entails that a number of houses/commercial outlets are to be expropriated through a requisition order. Although the government has the right to expropriate private land for public uses how will the compensation be worked out?
Will the compensation given be enough for an elderly couple to buy a new apartment, knowing the high-end prices on the market? Will these open spaces remain so or would they be occupied by kiosks or other outlets as is happening in Tignè Point?
Another major concern is the proposed time frames. The master plan indicates that the various public infrastructures will commence in 2017 and end by 2021, which is in five years’ time. This is a very optimistic time line. Sadly the current government is not too credible when it comes to deadlines. Its main electoral pledge of a fully operational power station in two years is still not delivered.
According to the information given, all proposed private developments will commence once the public infrastructure is in place. What would happen if it does not happen? It was stated that developments will not occur concurrently. If Pender Gardens took eight years to build (and is still ongoing) how many years will these mega developments take? Is Paceville to become a construction site for the coming 15 or more years?
Another major concern for residents and for environmentalists is St George’s Bay and the land reclamation proposal. What the master plan suggests is the suppression of the bay as an integral part of the area to replace it by the concrete belt to be enjoyed exclusively by the few while even fewer make millions of profit out of the operation.
Although the highest buildings are being proposed to be constructed on the inner part and gradually decreasing in height to the shoreline, a high development is to be built at the end of a reclaimed land outside Portomaso. To justify this, a PA spokesperson said that this would be an iconic building. This is a new-found buzzword to justify the unjustified. Iconic buildings are buildings meant to stand out for their aesthetic beauty not for being eyesores. Ironically, Parliament has recently approved a Bill to safeguard our coasts.
What is becoming for the government the norm rather than exception, is that no impact assessments are being commissioned. The modus operandi seems to be that first there is the PA rubberstamp, then if there is still a public outcry, impact assessments are commissioned, which risk not being published either. The risk assessment regarding the gas tanker in Marsaxlokk is a case in point.
Other areas of concern are the domestic and construction waste management, the proposed park-and-ride in Spinola Bay area, and the lack of environmental studies.
Swieqi and Pembroke residents have similar concerns.
I have no qualms in admitting that there are also some good points, such as the accessibility to the coastline, bicycle lanes and alternative energy proposals.
I have also no difficulty in admitting that the previous Nationalist administration had failed to take the bull by the horns. I walk away from the shadows of the past. As deputy mayor of St Julian’s, I represent the interest of our residents.
I am not against a master plan or high-rise developments per se considering the lack of land. Going vertical is one way of moving on. But this must be sustainable.
I am all for enforcement and embellishment of the area. I am all for law and order. I am all for aesthetics and good taste. I am all for seeking a balance between the interests of residents and those of the business community.
My major concern is overdevelopment and the greediness of particular fat cats, out to become fatter at the expense of others.
The St Julian’s local council is inviting residents for a consultation meeting on Friday at the Millennium Chapel at 7pm. Be there.
Albert Buttigieg is a Nationalist Party candidate on the 9th and 10th districts and deputy mayor of St. Julian’s.