“My silence cannot be bought!” is the current battle cry used by the leader of the Opposition. As days go by it is becoming evidently clear that what Simon Busuttil really means is that his silence cannot be bought because it doesn’t need to, he will willingly give it away for free, especially when it involves his party’s past and present actions.
Rewind back to 1999 when the PN government under Edward Fenech Adami gave away Manoel Island for a 99-year concession to a company called MIDI.
Back then, if there were a couple of places around the Gżira-Sliema area that served as a ‘green lung’ untouched by massive over development, then these were precisely Manoel Island and Tigné. Both areas were however given to MIDI and the two projects had to be developed together.
On September 27, 1999, during a parliamentary debate, former minister Francis Zammit Dimech promised quality developments that created new standards in the urban planning of the Maltese islands. He assured everyone that these developments would create a balanced environment. He also promised restricted building volumes and restricted building heights.
Now, fast forward 18 years and just have a proper look at Tigné, which has been the only site developed so far.
We all know how that development has really turned out, a mass of square-shaped, bland concrete apartments overlooking one another with a tiny piazza where members of the public – who were promised great benefits from this project and public access to the area – can breathe down one another’s neck on a Sunday afternoon. I sincerely hope that this is not the kind of balanced environment that Zammit Dimech had in mind for Sliema.
Frankly speaking, we are living on an island, where for years some people have been trying to build towers and mega projects with very little concern as to how the island as a whole is looking, both environmentally and aesthetically.
Areas have been laden with needless overdevelopment, which is neither aesthetically pleasant nor helpful to our well-being both physically and psychologically
Over the years, areas upon areas have been laden with needless overdevelopment, which is neither aesthetically pleasant nor helpful to our well-being both physically and psychologically and yet, many are remaining mum on the proposed ‘development’ on Manoel Island, an island which should be enjoyed by the public rather than exploited by the few.
If the whole MIDI Manoel Island project has proven anything it is that Busuttil is a politician of selective environmental social morals. Currently from the PN camp all we can hear is the thunderous sound of deafening silence. Not one member from the PN has come forward to voice their concern over, or their staunch disapproval of, the Manoel Island project.
One does however have to ask why Busuttil and his party stayed mum regarding this whole debacle, when it was Busuttil himself demanding the publication of various government and third-party entity contracts and ironically enough it was Shadow Minister Marthese Portelli who recently said that a PN government would cancel the Electrogas contract if it went against the interests of the people.
Even more recently, Portelli claimed that “the government is either amateur or is ready to go out of its way to appease certain people”. Oh how the tables have suddenly turned. Using their own statements as the measuring rule, are the PN trying to appease someone now with their silence?
Will Busuttil break his silence or has it been bought by the failings and dealings of previous PN governments?
The PN’s true stance on the environment is now well and truly revealed. The PN will only fight tooth and nail for a cause if it benefits them. The PN will only fight for the common citizen if they can politically gain something and ultimately, if the PN are left to govern, they will govern in a manner that will help them and the handpicked they continue to be synonymous with.
It was only last February that Portelli asked in Parliament who it was the government was protecting and what does the government hide with regards to the Electrogas contract that was published in Parliament. We now have to ask the same questions to the PN.
Who are the PN protecting? And what does the PN have to hide? Questions, which Busuttil dares not answer.
It is sad really, because Busuttil promised action. He promised not to remain silent. He promised to stand up and not have his silence bought. Simon Busuttil promised… ultimately that is what we are really left with, empty promises and a deafening silence, which is there for everyone to hear.
Seventeen years on from the transfer of Manoel Island to MIDI and times have sadly not changed. The PN remains a party based on selective morals and selective silence.
While Busuttil and his cohorts remain silent on this issue, it is up to us, the people of this island to seek alternative designs and to challenge the very legality of the Manoel Island project.
Manoel Island has the potential to be a beautiful pristine jewel in a now seemingly overdeveloped Grand Harbour, a pristine jewel that should not only be enjoyed by the select few but by all Maltese and EU citizens and by all tourists visiting our shores.
Miriam Dalli is a Labour MEP.