Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but this ugliness is going to be in everybody’s face for many decades to come. I am of course referring to the Mistra development, approved by Mepa a short while ago. If you happen to be driving down Mellieħa hill over the coming years, you will not be able to miss it. It will be there staring you in the face as you return from Gozo, from what may possibly be our last refuge, if at all.

It is an unfortunate reality that the so-called development lobby is stronger than the environment lobby. In a sensible world, these two lobbies should not be in competition but should rather be working together in the interest of sustainability. Building for building’s sake is not development.

It is the equivalent of blowing money bubbles that will eventually blow up in someone’s face. It may not be the face of the Mistra developers. They could very well end up selling all their properties to those wishing to enjoy the view from the ridge – while spoiling it for the rest of the population. But it will bring onto the market an additional 744 units in full competition with the struggling property market.

One hopes that this new spate of development will not further encourage the speculation game between developers which drove up prices over the past decades.

I had hopes that the slowdown in additional development we witnessed over the past months would help bring demand and supply closer to each other. The slowdown is now a thing of the past and we are going to witness another development spate. Eventually someone, most likely the banks, may very well pull the plug and then it will be the whole economy that will have to face the music. This is the economic argument against further development. The environment argument is infinitely stronger especially in Malta.

We are going to build a monument to our inability to stop the uglification of Malta. We are going to create another tangible reminder to our short-sightedness. Although we have ample examples of bad planning it seems that we do not have enough. I would have thought that the shameful building of Xlendi’s ridge, the unplanned development of Buġibba, the vacant towers in Marsa, the chaotic development in Sliema and the constant rape of the characteristic houses in our village cores, particularly in the Three Cities, would have been enough – apparently not. We need a bigger reminder and soon we will have it.

And nobody gives a hoot as to who issued the permit in the first place. The end result is the same. A monument to shame.

The madness will not be limited to Mistra. Mepa is set on approving development in outside development zones on the pretext of enabling rural tourism projects.

This policy as it currently stands will pave the way for excavators, diggers and cranes to do their worst in our countryside. Has anyone studied how many of such developments are actually needed in Malta? Or will it be a free for all and then once we destroy everything we will start to scratch our heads as what to do with the failed ventures? Discotheques or wedding halls anyone?

I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I heard the reassurance of Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia.

He said that any development approved under this policy which turns out to be speculative rather than rural, will be reversed. Yes sure, I’m feeling very reassured.

It is our inability to stop the uglification of Malta

Something destroyed cannot be reversed. Something destroyed is destroyed forever. The view coming down from Mellieħa hill is going to be destroyed forever. The same is going to happen to our countryside.

Our environment NGOs have sounded the alarm. They are trying in every way possible to get their message across. Our environment ministry on the other hand is conspicuous by its complete and utter silence. I expected the ministry to put on record its strong disagreement to what is happening – even if that disagreement would have been overruled. But no – our Environment Ministry elected to be silent and in so doing is creating a shameful legacy.

We need a stronger regulator to protect our environment. We need a stronger voice to protect the environmental rights of our children. All we can hear is the noise of cranes and excavators. From the looks of things, these noises are going to become louder and more widespread. Someone pointed out that the sad truth about ugliness is that it tends to outlast beauty. We are doing our best to prove him right.

This is the sad legacy we are passing on to our children.

Stefano Mallia is a PN EU election candidate.