Is self-destruction an option?

Why does government persist in its destruction of Marsaskala as a tourist zone? Why does it hide its true intentions as to its vision for Marsaskala? Why does it keep its cards so close to its chest that the people of Marsaskala are forced to probe and dig and research to try and discover what is to become of their now defunct fishing village? Why has Marsaskala been desecrated? Why has it been chosen for destruction by land and sea? Why have our representatives let all this happen?
When 15 years or so ago the recycling plant was built, the general public was not yet aware, let alone schooled, in environmental issues. No EIA, no TIA or NIA existed then: everything depended on the whims of ministers. After its commissioning, we were regaled with the most monstrous building ever to adorn the entrance to any village, one that dispensed its noxious odours over its surroundings, regaling us with millions and millions of mosquitoes and sending asthmatic people to doctors and clinics. What good did the residents’ objections achieve? Despite promise after promise, no party had the courage or guts to tear down the plant and erect it in a more suitable place, away from built-up residential areas. Our politicians publicly display scruples about wasting money and look to save wherever they can at whatever price in terms of hardship to our families, while at the same time regaling us day after day with money wasting projects and the defilement of our environment.
We are now living in an age of EIA, TIA, AIA, and what not. We are more and more environmentally conscious. The community of Marsaskala would like to see our valley returned to its natural beauty. And the time is now, when we have the money to rebuild a new recycling plant. And if the money we have does not suffice, why shouldn’t the whole of Malta contribute to what is so necessary, namely the rebuilding of a new recycling plant in an area that does not destroy a whole village community and its environment.
For if we persist in rebuilding the recycling plant in its present position, the other party will never pull it down for the simplest of excuses, that a lot of money would have been spent and none is left to pull it down and have it transported to another place. We have got used to all this. Never have so many councils and residents raised so many thousands of liri to contest the government’s decision. And yet both parties are oblivious to the plight of Marsaskala residents. We do not want unending studies. We have simply had enough. We want our village to be developed into a beautiful tourist area; we want to clean up our village from an influx of criminals and drug dealers who are corrupting and killing our youth by making them drug addicts. Our young people have no motivation to develop their talents or spend their leisure time in a fitting manner. Why do we shrug our shoulders at all this? Why do we shrug our shoulders at the justified indignation of Marsaskala residents? And, as if this were not enough, we are now promised the largest aquaculture farm in the Mediterranean to process 60% of its tuna catch just outside our bay.
The government is oblivious to the fact that what we are planning now, will one day blow up in our faces, leaving us naked with our shore line destroyed: a project which is not only worrying Marsaskala residents and business men but even Maltese entrepreneurs, who have embarked on and invested in such projects. Aquaculture is an industry which exports at present about Lm20,000,000 of tuna per year. But we have to balance this with the loss in tourism revenues and the destruction of a village. What is needed is the rationalisation of our policy in aquaculture. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the present players to move their sites further out and to limit our Maltese quota to 6,000 tonnes per year? This would give a fair income to our Maltese entrepreneurs while protecting them against foreign vultures, whose main interest is their pockets, and who could quit at any time for whatever reason leaving us naked and bust.
Do we really believe that 6 kilometres offshore is a feasible proposition? What is stopping a logical and sensible compromise within a national context and a plan underpinned by all the stakeholders. Government has to make its intentions and plans clear. It is only fair on those entrepreneurs who risk large sums of money to start or expand a business. It is only fair on our residents. They have a right to the necessary information that will lead them to take a responsible decision as to where they want to live – in a commercial, or a tourist, or just a dumping zone. Why do we persist in self-destruction? Why do we persist in the destruction of the South? We need a whole rethink and a clear vision of where we want to go. We, the people of the south, strongly demand this. Are we expecting too much?
It is the time for both parties to abandon childish piques which only serve to divide this small nation of ours, and to put their heads and hearts together and reach a sensible solution to our island’s waste problems. The Prime Minister, in a party assembly, called for education to be treated as a national issue. The UHM called for health to be treated as a national issue. Why keep waste from being treated (no pun intended) in the same way? Why do we persist in our destructive path in this area knowing full well that bad decisions today will adversely affect us for years on end? Haven’t we all learned that reversing decisions built only on political expediency forces us in the end to dig further into our pockets to try and rectify matters? Of what use then will accusation and counter accusation be? It’s the people who suffer not the politicians. No wonder political disillusionment grows by the day.
This country needs to break the mould which has shaped our politics since independence. No politician, of whatever party, can be seen as being honest, good and true, when he daily feeds his people a diet of the Politics of Antagonism, wherever its provenance, and is seen as working more for sectarian interests than national ones. Unfortunately, the period of turbulence when the PN had to fight to survive, unintentionally made it pick up unhealthy habits. And the young bloods coming in have only too readily assimilated them. What the country needs is an administration that can lead without subterfuge.

Josie Muscat
Councillor Marsaskala