Din l-Art Helwa presidents call on Muscat to consider his legacy

Concerned at the rapid deterioration of the environment under Labour’s new planning policies for high-rise and rural development, Din l-Art Helwa’s former and serving presidents send Joseph Muscat an appeal to slow down

From left to right: Martin Galea, Anthony Bonanno, Simone Mizzi, Martin Scicluna, and Simone Mizzi, under a portrait of founder Maurice Caruana Curran
From left to right: Martin Galea, Anthony Bonanno, Simone Mizzi, Martin Scicluna, and Simone Mizzi, under a portrait of founder Maurice Caruana Curran

the first time in the fifty years of Din l-Art Helwa’s work to protect Malta’s environmental and cultural heritage, all six serving and former presidents of the association have jointly written an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister, expressing deep concern at the current state of the environment and the government’s plans for the future.

In their letter, the six presidents – judge emeritus Maurice Caruana Curran, Prof. Anthony Bonanno, Martin Scicluna, Martin Galea, Dr Petra Caruana Dingli, and Simone Mizzi – appeal to Musact to ensure that his legacy to Malta is “not remembered for the further and rapid degradation of the built and rural environment”.

They said they were concerned that the government has not drafted a solidly constructed new Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development, which will serve as the precursor to a new Structure Plan, and that the plan does not have essential detailed policies.

“Malta has been left without a proper strategy for the future governance and good administration of its built and rural environment, thus inviting continued bad management and abuse to fester,” the presidents said.

The government also intends to amend the legislation to enable the Strategic Plan to be approved by the Minister of Planning alone, without proper parliamentary scrutiny.

“Given that the Plan involves a change of such social, economic and environmental importance, the attempt to bypass Parliament is a retrograde step which runs directly counter to the commitment to transparency and accountability which this government made on taking office.”

DLH also flagged numerous decisions affecting the environment which were a cause for concern.

The new Rural Development Policy, constituting a new direction for the countryside that is likely to lead inevitably to land speculation outside the development zone (ODZ), was approved by the government without any reference to an overarching Strategic Plan and without conducting a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of its impact.

A new policy for high-rise buildings in an area of Mriehel was also approved after having not beemn included in the public consultation phase for a new policy on high-rise development, as is required by law.

Calls for expressions of interest in land reclamation projects were also published without a Marine Spatial Plan being presented, debated or approved.

“These numerous development plans coming together collectively without good governance of the use of land threaten Malta’s last unspoilt open spaces. The island’s countryside and its coast, its built heritage and with it the quality of life of its citizens and visitors will lose to economic interests. Din l-Art Helwa’s six Presidents, with this Open Letter, together appeal to the Prime Minister to uphold his government’s electoral promise to protect the environment for future generations.”