Construction required to reach the government’s growth targets is expected to result in “significant environmental concerns”, according to a Mepa report.
The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) looks at each objective in the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development (SPED) launched last month and assesses their impact on the environment, cultural heritage and human health.
The SPED will replace the Structure Plan adopted in 1992 – the mother of all planning policies – and is intended to regulate land and sea resource management until 2020.
The impact is expected to be long term and permanent
The plan is supposed to reflect the government’s vision for ‘sustainable’ development but has been heavily criticised by environmental organisations for falling short of legal requirements and promoting development.
Those concerns appear justified by the environmental assessment issued by Mepa, which highlights “significant” concerns related to waste management, landscape and townscape, biodiversity and water.
But the impact on air, noise, soil, energy, human health and material assets “is also of concern”, showing proposed planning policies will aggravate existing problems.
“The impact is expected to be long term and permanent,” the report states.
Negative effects on human health are measured from the combined impact on air quality, water quality, radiation and hazardous installations.
An increase in air pollution will also risk exceeding limit values set by EU directives and new plans would introduce pollution beyond established thresholds for water quality, both potable and bathing, according to the report. It says that government proposals are likely to lead to even more severe deterioration of ground water and coastal water in reverse osmosis protection zones.
Fresh water sources are already limited and are threatened by over-abstraction and pollution from cancer-causing nitrates.
The negative impact associated with development will also result in a deterioration of soil status. Soil quality is affected by contamination, salinisation and erosion arising mainly from increased urbanisation and more intense agricultural practices. In turn this will impact biodiversity and water quality, both issues that are in need of urgent attention. Despite legal protection, biodiversity continues to be threatened by land development, overexploitation and invasive alien species, the report says. The integrity of protected and sensitive cultural heritage at a national level is also seen to be at risk.
DLĦ expects the government to fulfil its responsibilities
According to Mepa’s assessment, Malta’s exceptionally rich cultural heritage is falling victim to the extent of the island’s built-up area, industrial and coastal development, taller buildings on urban fringes that obstruct views of historic centres, increased traffic, poor standards of design and work and a lack of maintenance.
Planning policies are also expected to have a significant negative impact on townscape quality due to increased urban development.
Landscape and seascape is expected to suffer from the cumulative impact of development, which will generate a significant amount of waste, particularly construction and demolition waste.
There is also an expected increase in biodegradable waste going to landfill.
The report states that addressing these environmental concerns requires stronger administrative and procedural arrangements across the government.
Legally, the SPED must set out policies on use of land and sea together with a justification for each policy and proposal, but the document does not include any of this.
Water expert Marco Cremona described the report as a “wish list” that is not backed by the necessary economical, social and environmental analysis.
Environmentalist Alan Deidun said it “seems to rubber-stamp the development of an airstrip in Gozo, as well as a yacht marina and cruise terminal, without a single word on site identification, which will lead to speculation”.
And cultural heritage organisation Din l-Art Ħelwa said the SPED fell very far short of expectations: “DLĦ expects tħe government to fulfil its responsibilities and to not attempt to bypass them for political expediency”.
Public consultation on the SPED is open until June 20 and can be viewed on the Mepa website www.mepa.org.mt/public-consultation.