It comes as no surprise that the EU has declared that the law to exempt hospital-ground developments from
scrutiny is illegal. This violates the EU’s Environmental Impact Assessment Directive and is yet another
example of this Government’s lack of respect for the public. Because of Government’s drive to satisfy its
pre-election promises to select interest groups, this country is lurching from one environmental crisis to
another. This can be seen from the threat of ever-encroaching construction to satisfy the perceived need
for further development, and also from the increasing applications for petrol stations on ODZ land – in a
country with 80 petrol stations, or one for every 4 square km of land.
No sooner had the Archbishop objected to plans to build a supermarket on the site of the Carmelite Priory in
Balluta which would destroy one of the few remaining green lungs in the area, reducing the quality of life of
residents in this area with more traffic and air pollution, than we now hear of plans to build a motorsports
circuit in Malta.
How can tiny Malta spare 80 hectares, equal to 100 football pitches, to accommodate an activity that would
create air and noise pollution to residents for miles around? It is highly irresponsible of the government to
encourage such a damaging project.
Successive Governments have fostered the mentality that everything that is found in America, Dubai and
Singapore can be fitted into this little island. Motorsport enthusiasts claim their rights but several sports lack
facilities, such as a cycling track. Malta has a growling community of skiers and mountain-climbers. Will they
also have the right to build an artificial ski-slope to practice their sport? Those who can afford a sports car
can surely afford to use professional circuits in Sicily, rather than inflicting the health problems of pollution
on the Maltese public.
We have to start accepting the limitations of this tiny island and protect its assets rather than fixating on
what we cannot have. ODZ projects like foreign universities and motorsport circuits need to be assessed as
to whether they are essential to the well-being of a tiny nation that does not have an unemployment
problem.
The value of a natural site cannot be reduced to the price of its footprint. Studies prove that green areas are
essential to residents’ physical and mental health; without access to green areas, public and private health
costs will increase. Green spaces are essential for free recreation and attract tourists; reducing them would
have an economic impact and cause social and environmental injustice.
The loss of green areas reduces Malta’s biodiversity and agriculture, increasing food dependence on
imports. More concrete eliminates soil’s ability to absorb pollution and rain, hence increasing flooding and
water loss.
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar holds that the loss of ODZ cannot be compensated to the public financially
through raising the cost of green sites. This Government needs to change its focus from money alone to real
governance, starting with an appreciation of our health-giving, natural green spaces.
ENDS – 502 Words 01.10.2015
