As September 20 recedes into the background, the anger and hostility unleashed by the Planning Authority board meeting and the subsequent decision against logic, reason and quality of life for much of the nation, festers on.
The triumph of the greed and gluttony of one developer, openly supported by the highest ministries down to the board of our Planning Authority, has not yet left the awareness of civil society.
On the contrary, the anger, indignation and frustration has taken on a personal level, directed squarely at the 10 PA board directors who voted in favour of this monstrous development, a 38-storey tower and a 17-storey hotel in St George’s Bay.
Their pathetic attempt to hide sheepishly behind a volley of contradicting policies, calculations, extrapolations and prognostications, does not free them from their gross responsibility.
The 10 directors had the golden opportunity to pull the handbrake on one of the most dishonest land transfer deals Malta has witnessed. But no, they huddled around each other and did otherwise, sealing a pact with the devil.
Nothing and no one will supply a valid excuse for their roles in this filthy game.
In the marathon meeting at the Ħamrun Lyceum, the eNGOs and the public were regaled with lavishly complicated assessments, illogical opinion pieces and fancy calculations, in a gross attempt to persuade the average Maltese citizen that the monstrous and downright trashy architectural attempt on land, which rightfully belongs to the nation, can somehow be justified.
If the Planning Authority can simply decide to bully the government into planning new roads to satisfy the needs of a developer, why do we even need Transport Malta?
There was endless talk of green facades, which are as green as any piece of rendered blockwork currently available in Malta. A green travel plan, equally as useless as the paper it has been printed on, and which cannot be implemented given the missing infrastructure, zero incentives and absolute lack of political will for such concepts.
The presentations were utterly meaningless, and the 10 sat by, nodding heads like puppets, lacking the backbone to call a spade a spade.
The traffic impact assessment was absurd from every angle. The applicant now admits that there are serious traffic issues around St George’s Bay. Wow, what a surprise! Every driver faces these problems daily.
So, the 10 simply sanctioned an even more ludicrous solution to the problem: force the taxpayer to pocket the bill for a tunnel costing millions of euros, in order for their developer to become even richer on the strength of land cheated away from that very same taxpayer.
Furthermore, if the Planning Authority can simply decide to bully the government into planning new roads to satisfy the needs of a developer, why do we even need Transport Malta?
And, then, came the totally warped calculations of the extensive environmental impact assessment. Shadow studies were presented, showing even the dimmest that Pembroke is well and truly stitched up once this demon has been approved.
The long-distance views and photomontages shook everybody. But the smug 10 sat idly on, with an air of complacency, happily watching the developer kick the whole of Pembroke in the groin, making no attempt to stop such a savage attack.
The sight was well and truly stomach churning, sickening. Their conscience toward the community no longer exists, if it ever did.
The gratification they got for inflicting this on thousands of residents comes at a price as the 10 directors have now become the poster boys and girls of all that is rotten in this little island State. Whatever you do in your future, your name is mud and your reputations will forever be overshadowed by this decision.
Jorg Sicot is a member of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece