Years ago, before the plunder of our island started, it was virtually impossible to take a photograph anywhere in Malta which was not instantly recognisable – the most common give-away was our skillfully crafted honey-coloured stonework, our balconies and our garigue. Now, that is all over.

Our characteristic architecture is being systematically torn down or degraded and replaced by concrete and aluminium.

All the locally quarried and carefully shaped stone out of which these houses were once built were unceremoniously dumped with garbage in unsightly heaps – as our Mount Magħtab.

Large swathes of Malta are now rendered anonymous and unrecognisable.

This was not done to meet a need, but to create a demand which so far has been largely met. But it is for the benefit of a few who are becoming immensely rich.  This robbery of our collective heritage and eradication of our unique architectural idiom now continues at a more frenzied pace under our very noses with the connivance of the government and the Planning Authority. But, unlike the sudden collapse of our Azure Window, this robbery is happening incrementally and we don’t notice.

Two recent proposed atrocities epitomise the bad things that are happening in Malta. One is a proposal to disfigure the façade of a historic iconic building in Mrabat Street, Sliema, by the addition  of a third floor  (possibly aluminium and glass) and, to add to the insult, its  large uniquely architectured  garden will be destroyed to make space  for yet another  apartment block. A worse fate awaits another garden: the large one in front of the Carmelite Convent in St Julian’s, which is in a conservation area and has protected trees. The plan is to destroy this garden and replace it with an underground car park and overlying commercial premises.

Of course, money and the bulldozers will win again. It is starting to appear as if the juggernaut of savage destruction of our urban heritage for quick profit has now gained too much momentum to be stopped.  If this is not resisted, one piece after another of our heritage and architectural gems will be torn down or disfigured, until every last penny has been squeezed out of our country.

A pre-election promise of the present administration – as proclaimed prominently before the election in cunningly designed placards – was: “So the environment truly becomes a priority”.  Many voters were fooled into voting for the incumbent party by such promises. But they were duped; never, in the history of Malta, has there been such an onslaught on our environment and heritage in the pursuit of wealth.

Going by the outrage expressed on timesofmalta.com under the article ‘Conversion of iconic Sliema palazzo into boutique hotel approved’, it can be reasonably assumed that most people are against the plunder that we are now witnessing.

Such bare-faced destruction and exploitation of our heritage raise the moral question whether developers have a right to inflict such degradation on our urban surroundings for profit. Does the Planning Authority not have an ethical imperative which is to protect what people hold dear? As things now stand, the Planning Authority is in gross betrayal of its function.

Of course, this environmental vandalism is aided and abetted by our government. It is becoming painfully clear that there are no aesthetic or ethical limits where there is money to be made; money always wins.

Not only are we are the losers, future generations are being robbed.