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It is with disbelief and shock that I see that the demolition of the Baroque house in Ghar il-Lembi Street began two days ago – though, as I write, I know that everything that can be done is being done to stop it continuing. What strange and contradictory regulations MEPA runs on – with any number of loopholes for the philistine and greedy developers to manipulate. Who engineered those loopholes?
So, on this occasion, we are told that the developer can continue with the demolition but that he can pay compensation later if he loses the appeal which is now being put forward. How can compensation ever make up for the wilful and determined destruction of a 300-year old house?
Those who oppose the rule of the developers and their friends in high places have become “a class for itself” which will no longer tolerate such vandalism. When MEPA was first established we justifiably believed that such activity could be reported to MEPA and that the matter would be safe in its hands! We have now reached a situation where it is MEPA itself which, through its murky regulations shot with loopholes, is seen to be aiding and abetting the demolition of every last scrap of heritage on our islands.
This has become a test case of national significance. The authorities still have the chance to save this house. Its eventual demolition by the developers (should it be allowed) will be this Government’s final admission that its first priority is the appeasement of developers, while its talk of preservation of heritage is nothing but very hot air.
Helen Caruana Galizia
Birzebbuga
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