The Budget speech delivered in Parliament a few days ago once again highlights a very worrying aspect of the government’s outlook on the environment. Although it contains a small number of initiatives that are commendable and which will contribute positively, it is patently obvious that there is no structured and coherent strategy in this very important sector.

Paltry effort: Minister José Herrera had promised a record-breaking year for tree planting, which is definitely not happening. Photo: Reuben Piscopo/DOI

The main thrust of this Budget is to throw numbers at problems, trying to convince that government spending is increasing and that the economy is booming for one and all. 

However, while quite able to put a cost on anything, this government is totally inept in understanding the value of a lot of factors that together contribute towards a healthy physical environment and way of life.

The setting up of Ambjent Malta, with the stated aim of doing projects that enhance our environment, has to be taken within the context of the past few years. The uncontrolled race to the bottom, with excessive development and construction, further rape of ODZ areas in favour of speculation, increase in cars on the road, palpable increase in air and noise pollution, frenetic and often unsanctioned road widening, indiscriminate destruction of trees and agricultural land in favour of traffic… all these make a mockery of the initiatives that are being taken now.

It needs to be understood why Ambjent Malta is being set up with a projected expenditure in salaries and operational expenses of over €4.5 million to run initiatives and programmes worth €10.5 million. These initiatives were previously taken care of by the ministry, which is not showing any decrease in its payroll, as one would expect, but an increase of €3 million in its wage and operational bill. How is this possible?

The Budget tries to placate the population and environmentally conscious citizens with hare-brained schemes like planting a tree for every child born. The government should not programme the planting of a mere three or four thousand trees a year but should be embarking on aggressive afforestation programmes in the several areas earmarked over a year ago by the minister.

If anything, Minister José Herrera had promised a record-breaking year for tree planting, which is definitely not happening. One would have expected government to allocate much more than €150,000 for this scheme and a further €400,000 for afforestation which more or less accounts for the planting of 15,000 to 20,000 trees – hardly impressive.

The scheme for planting a tree for every car imported is ridiculous. The government should plant trees on a regular basis, come what may, and control the number of cars imported by reducing the need for them. This does not happen by widening roads and abetting more personal car use but by seriously improving public transport and encouraging personal mobility such as walking, cycling and other means.

If one looks at the paltry €1 million projected for parks compared to the €100 million for road networks (within the context of a massive €700 million programme), one concludes that the government has not understood anything on the issue and the setting up of Ambjent Malta will most probably be for nothing.

How can Ambjent Malta tackle issues of air and noise pollution if the government is doing its best to encourage more car use? How can we reconcile this initiative with the number of permits issued for petrol stations?

Another issue is waste management. Government has obviously given up on pushing the concept of “reduce, reuse, recycle” and has confirmed that the direction towards incineration will be given a further impetus next year. So, notwithstanding all its claims, we are again seeing a hastened “solution” to waste management – totally away from initiatives that reduce waste generation in the first place, by setting up a plant which would only further encourage production of waste and lower recycling rates.

The Budget document states that problems of waste management were already identified in the Waste Management Plan 2014-2020 but now they have become urgent. So the country is to pay for the fact that the government has lost another five years in this area and will now ram this solution down people’s throats.

Is this perhaps the shape of things to come with regard to construction and demolition waste? Will we be hearing of some last-minute “solution” now that our disused quarries and landfill cannot take any more such waste? Will this be one of the projects earmarked for Ambjent Malta?

There is too much power vested in a very small group of business people

As for energy, PD still wonders at how much we are paying for our energy mix to fulfil Konrad Mizzi’s commitment to buying defined quantities of gas, notwithstanding the fact that it might be cheaper to buy more from the interconnector.

Latest information has revealed the government has decreased dependency on the interconnector, claiming it is getting a better mix. One thinks that the reason is due to the commitments taken. Again, the Budget does not address the matter and just promises price stability as a sop to hide this serious issue.

On the subject of renewables, the government reiterates its commitment to encourage their use and then does not seem to be renewing the support schemes for the purchase of solar panels anymore. Perhaps it has realised that the indiscriminate permitting of high rises and new storeys everywhere does not encourage people to invest in that sector any more. Glossing over the issue by stating that it will keep on studying renewables does not give a strong sense of direction at all. 

The financial estimates show that next year, the ministry’s contribution to the Environmental and Resources Authority (ERA) will go up from €8.5 million to €12 million. It is so ironic that this hefty increase comes hot on the heels of a year where ERA was more conspicuous by its lack of action in favour of the environment and by its debacle at the feet of speculators and vested interests of the few. Its total inability to put the brakes on rampant speculation, blatant breach of regulations and weakness in the face of uncontrolled development (even by government entities) begs the question about this increase in contribution.  

The end result is a hodgepodge of initiatives that are positive in their nature but are being presented and potentially implemented in a fractured and unstructured way. The launching of the organic waste separation system is an example of how a good idea can be rendered totally inadequate by lack of logistical planning, incomplete legislation and lack of education and information.

If this is an indication of how government intends to plan much more complicated issues such as traffic management, the incinerator, the material recovery facility and the construction and demolition waste issues, then Malta is heading for a worryingly rough time in the environment sector.

Partit Demokratiku reiterates that it will give its full support to initiatives that contribute to the improvement of our physical environment, the quality of our water and air, the abatement of noise, the greening of our country, the encouragement of personal mobility beyond automobiles, the curtailment of land speculation including public land.

However, it notes that more often than not the Budget pays lip service to these concepts and, if previous performance is anything to go by, one cannot begrudge our scepticism over what will happen next year. 

We appeal to the government to include the various initiatives mentioned within a holistic approach to the environment, genuinely involving people of good will from all areas in the setting up of a Structure Plan for the Environment.

Government has to desist from pandering to the whims of powerful lobbies and give precedence to the common good against the profit of the few. There is too much power vested in a very small group of business people who have contributed greatly to the degradation of our land, sea, air, quality of living. 

No increase in the economy and GDP will make sense if our environment keeps going to the dogs. If this government does not make a U-turn it will be remembered for its abysmal performance in this sector for generations to come. 

Godfrey Farrugia is leader of Partit Demokratiku and a member of the Opposition. The views expressed here reflect the work of PD’s Environmental Policy Group.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece