The 10th electoral district is slowly coming under siege from the government. For some this is coming from friendly fire, while others who tried out this government by switching parties are now tasting the sour part, after being promised sweetness.

The latest is the Paceville project. Residents are being bombarded with full-page ads on how nice all the wish list is. This may be so, as some projects have been inserted, others purposely omitted, creating an uneven playing field once again, even among developers themselves. An uneven playing field as residents have been overlooked and not even allowed to speak, by the very Gvern li jisma’.

The Paceville residents are not aloneas adjacent residents of St Julian’sand Pembroke are, by force, interlinked with Paceville.

I assume all will be happy if things can or will be done better. Let’s not allude to dreams that are just an election wish or promise that will not materialise, or worse, change after an election.

The present commercial outlets should not be excluded. Labour uses the phrase ‘pro-business government’, but this has been lost in translation.

On to the St Julian’s and Ta’ Giorni area, where a petition signed by hundreds was discarded without consultation.

Let’s make residents’ life, property and way of living our priority

Public transport to this area has regressed to excessive proportions and this to help out a Birkirkara area. All they asked for is a proper service to be retained, and not removed. The Minister for Transport replied that residents wanted a taxi service.

It seems that the government needs a hearing aid, or to coin another phrase for communicating with il-popolin. Again the residents got the short end of the stick and have to climb hills for a service, and take triple the time on an unwanted bus ride. A note on the Pembroke area, the part close to Paceville and St George’s Bay. This area, rather tranquil so far, will be entirely disrupted by the massive development earmarked. Nobody knows how many large-scale towers are projected, as public consultation has been denied.

Distorting people’s life was not on Labour’s electoral agenda that enticed voters to change or try out this government.

Moving on to Sliema, where we are now all informed on the prospective towers that will come about there.

Nobody begrudges land ownership. Not even the Nationalist Party is against development, controlled and sustainable development, that is.

We have a skyline on Fort Cambridge of a number of storeys. I believe the limit should be the one already set out, as it isreasonable. To increase skylines distorts the same Sliema skyline. It will act as aprecedent to other possible future tower applications in other parts of Sliema or elsewhere.

Now that the Planning Authority has established that we should go up, rather than sideways, a complete handbook should be available. The time of construction work, the noise element, and the compensation for residents for discomfort are to be factored in. Everybody can read from the same page.

We will probably see that in 2017, and in the run up to another election, more sweet promises will have a sour ending.

Let’s put residents at the centre of our towns. Let’s make residents’ life, property and way of living our priority.

Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP.