Environment NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) had condemned the granting of a Mepa permit for a major development on Xemxija/Mistra hill as well as new development on virgin land in Lija and Balzan.

The NGO said the Xemxija development is massive and disproportionate, and the permit had been granted even though the tall buildings policy had specifically excluded this ridge.

"The design falls far short of what would be aesthetically acceptable, while the whole ethos of allowing tall buildings in order to leave open landscaped areas is betrayed by the fact that a significant percentage of those open areas will be closed to the public," the NGO said.

It added that Transport Malta, in dropping its objections had insulted local residents by claiming that the traffic situation was already so bad that adding heavy construction vehicles and another 1,500 cars to the area would not make a difference.

FAA also noted how over the last month, construction began on virgin land at a Lija Tal-Mirakli rationalisation site. A permit had also been issued for the building of a villa Out of Development Zone at Lija. In Balzan yet another application was submitted  for the building ofvillas in the baroque garden of  Palazz ta’ Rohan, while MEPA reneged on its commitment to refuse a large development in a low-rise villa area.

"The residents of the Three Villages have had enough of apartments blocks that destroy the gardens for which their area was known, depriving neighbours of their light and solar rights and increasing flooding. Speculators are exploiting areas which are attractive because their residents built according to plan, and profiting by destroying these communities," the NGO said.

"Maltese politicians’ lip service to sustainability, and successive MEPA boards’ approval of projects that violate its planning policies and principles of sustainability, prove that our urban planning system is bankrupt, undermined by a fundamental lack of ethics that has blighted Malta for generations."