Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) condemns the granting of a permit for the massive and disproportionate project at Xemxija, considering that the tall buildings policy had specifically excluded this ridge where the buildings will dominate an iconic landscape. 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.
MEPA Board failed to consider that residences all the way down to the seashore will be thrown into deep shade, just as it ignored the Halcrow Report stating that no more development should be allowed in this area due to traffic problems. In dropping its objection, Transport Malta insults local residents in claiming that the traffic situation is already so bad that adding heavy construction vehicles and another 1,500 cars to the area will not make a difference. FAA also asks how the Xemxija sewage system, which does not cope with the existing households, is going to cope with a further 744 apartments, and whether the taxpayer will be footing the bill for the upgrade of essential services.
This week was also marked by a protest held by the Balzan Local Council and residents against the erosion of their streetscapes and quality of life caused by abusive projects permitted by MEPA in violation of its policy that: “The importance of safeguarding the character of all residential areas cannot be overemphasised, and to this effect the objective seeks to improve the residential environment by controlling bad neighbour developments.”
Over the last month residents of the Three Villages saw construction begin on virgin land at a Tal-Mirakli rationalisation site and became aware of a permit issued to build a villa Out of Development Zone at Lija. In Balzan yet another application was submitted to build villas in the Baroque garden of the 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.
MEPA is failing to appreciate the insignificance of our lifespan when compared to that of the landscape. MEPA’s approval of projects that will affect the quality of life of residents, undermine tourism and add to Malta’s glut of vacant properties is regress, not progress, and puts into question the whole ‘raison d’etre’ of MEPA.
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.
