A story called Zonqor

Malta’s ecology and open spaces need a vigilant green organisation that is as resilient and forceful as the Front

I have no idea of how many have taken a boat ride along the coast, along the south coast that is.  

You may leave the breakwater in Grand Harbour for a starting point. If you leave Marsamxett and sail past the breakwater you can still see the cratered incisions notched deeply into the bastions in the e-boat attack during the last war. 

The Mediterranean gulls soar high into the sun together with other sea birds. As you head south you cannot but observe the crumbling walls of neglected Fort Ricasoli.  

The north facing bastions spill into the sea and soon the ramparts will fall in.

From this point onwards, the horrid vista of the coast begins. 

This point on the coast marked the spot where most of Malta’s untreated sewage used to pour out, along a pipeline some tens of metres out into the sea, but that was done away with in one good decision when the area was pinpointed for the SmartCity development. Before SmartCity, faeces, chemicals and agricultural waste were among the components that made the stinking cocktail which covered the surface of a sea made murky according to the prevailing currents, eventually to greet the bathers either at Tigne beach club or those at Zonqor.

Just before SmartCity you cannot miss the Mediterranean Film Facilities, which look like an abandoned industrial site.  

Next to it mounds of stone rubble separate it from the two connecting cement and glass blocks of what is now SmartCity. The project was sold to the Maltese public as some kind of revolutionary project that would herald the digital age and be the panacea for digital and other unemployment.  

And according to SmartCity’s website in 2008, the year of Mistra and JPO,  “SmartCity Malta is not only the largest foreign investment in Malta, but it also is the largest job-creator under one roof in Malta’s history. Over an eight year period, SmartCity Malta is committed to creating 5,600 jobs – spanning from jobs created in Malta’s knowledge-industry, to new employment opportunities in areas of management, hospitality, retail, security and logistics to name but a few.”

It was of course a sour joke.  

As we eventually came to learn, it was no more than a real estate project that did not do extremely well.  It is getting better and of course years later the owners of SmartCity lamented that the government – not this one – had put all their bets on the business centre on Corporate House, another project which never took off.  

With Skyparks, Corporate House, and numerous private business centres, SmartCity suffered a hitch in its attractive potential.

SmartCity has always been finding it hard, which is not surprising, considering that the immediate environs are simply inhospitable.

Sprouting next to Smart City is the small town sprawl of Xgħajra, a hotchpotch of low maisonettes and apartments.  Some would call it a slum, but really it is more authentic than the high rise apartments stacked like flattened sardine tins on the Sliema front.

To me SmartCity is not smart at all, and beyond the miniature Dubai look, it mars the landscape more than the Xghajra franka spread.

If Xgħajra did not have enough of a bad name, a sewage treatment plant was built in close proximity to it, halting the cancerous building development beyond the coast to Zonqor.  For about one kilometre, the coast is pristine and untouched.  

On the hill the fort of St Leonard looks down, hunting hides surrounded by non-indigenous acacias sprouting from the woodland. The terraced fields are denuded and bare of soil.

On the coastline inaccessible caves line the shoreline.  And just there you can see the Triq il-Wiesgħa tower, one of the 13 watchtowers built by De Redin. It was built in 1659, some 356 years ago. Around it, hunting and trapping hides are evidence of what activities are practised there.

There are no official roads here, but some elderly people seeking quiet, manage to drive their car down the hill, to attach a line sheet to the side of the tower and sit down on collapsible chairs in the shade they create, to have a snack.

I would imagine it must be capers, olive oil, salt, pepper and tomato spread on fresh Maltese bread. Nothing more divine to savour in the shade and a sea breeze.

For 1,000 metres or more the rocky coastline lingers, remnants of an unfinished coast road can be seen, but thankfully there is no tarmac.

It was one of those short sighted ideas of yesteryear – always remember that once a road is built, the next step follows: buildings start sprouting.

Makeshift tents and caravans appear next to the foreshore, bathers lounge on the uninviting rocks. In the background the BDA of Marsascala towers over the swimming pool. Both the BDAs and the pool were the ideas of the late minister Lorry Sant.  That was before 1985, there were 22 Building Development Areas and for some absurd reason there was a rule that they should be built with a green belt of 700 metres from a residential area. So today we have 22 hamlets in the middle of the countryside to accommodate copy-cat semi-detached maisonettes.

We are finally at Zonqor point.

This point, which was previously only known for being home to a badly kept pool and a good restaurant, has become a household name.

I am sure that most people have never visited this location.

It is not a suggestive place. I could think of more pretty sites. But it is not ugly. There is, after all, the inviting sea.

Nonetheless Zonqor has served its purpose because the whole argument about it is not about saving Zonqor but about building outside a development zone for the sake of it.

And after the referendum on banning hunting in spring, and after years of listening to litanies about protecting the environment, conquering Zonqor’s footprint and replacing it with concrete was unacceptable.

I do not share the arguments over the conflict between the national university and the so-called American university that many conjure. Many private tuition schools offer university based courses too and they have not managed to affect the Tal-Qroqq institution.

And perhaps some competition will re-order the quality of academic excellence sometimes so lacking at Tal-Qroqq.

But, back to Zonqor.

Beyond the incredible hypocrisy of PN activists who overnight became tree huggers, hats off to the Front ODZ for sensitizing the issue to a wider and national level.

Their zero tolerance to no more development in ODZ is understandable. They may not see it as a victory but it is.

On the other hand, Muscat’s ability to find a compromise without losing out on this investment distinguishes him from his immediate predecessor.

Muscat, like Fenech Adami, listens, retreats, thinks and then decides.

Gonzi, on the other hand would listen, retreat, never stop thinking and never decide.

Needless to say had it not been for Front Harsien ODZ there would be no university in Bormla. A project initiated by the previous administration, Dock 1, has been crowned with a worthwhile project by this one.  

It sounds healthy to see some continuation in this country.

What is next, apart from the investment, is the young influx of foreign students in what is known as a depressed but beautiful port area.  It will add value.

My final assessment is positive.  

Front Harsien ODZ should perhaps rename themselves to something more evocative.  Malta’s ecology and open spaces need a vigilant green organisation that is as resilient and forceful as the Front.  Their last statement also revealed some insight and maturity in their stance.