How Muscat put Zonqor on the radar again

Up to a few weeks ago, Joseph Muscat seemed to have had the upper hand in the Zonqor debate. He had decreased the ODZ footprint form 90,000 sq.m to 18,000 sq.m, and split the campus between Zonqor and Dock number 1 in Cospicua, to contain the anger and disappointment of civil society which led to a 3,000-strong march in June. 

Muscat could bank on the issue drifting out of the public radar and be in a position to write off anyone objecting to the sacrifice of ODZ land as ‘absolutist’. Clearly his intention was to use the Chirstmas festivities as a cover-up, to minimise public focus on the favourable treatment given to Sadeen at a time when people are distracted by other things.

But this was one rare case of Muscat miscalculating his moves.

Expecting the Opposition to remain silent because of its past is tantamount to legitimise a dictatorship. Parliamentary scrutiny is what makes us a democracy.

The Opposition had a field day in prolonging the debate in parliament all through the night by insisting on speeches by all its MPs. This magnified the perception that parliament was working overtime and overnight to discuss a motion which ultimately foresees the transfer of public land to an obscure construction group from Jordan at a pittance. It was the government which insisted on having the motion approved before the Christmas recess. The Opposition’s tactics ensured that the government’s urgency did not go unnoticed.

Surely the PN’s past record in government (which includes transferring public land for Smart City without issuing a tenders and extending development boundaries in 2006) does make some of the statements made by its MPs hypocritical. But expecting the Opposition to remain silent because of its past is tantamount to legitimise a dictatorship. Parliamentary scrutiny is what makes us a democracy.

It is the urgency felt by government which is now raising more questions. Was this dictated by a need to reassure Sadeen that the project was still in track? Why approve the land transfer when this is still conditional on a planning permit being issued, a permit which we have been told will include a study of alternative sites?

Moreover the government dropped a bombshell during the debate, by acknowledging that Sadeen will not be operating as a university but as an institute for higher education. Sadeen will only be recogised as a university if they prove themselves after operating for some years. This would have been a welcome development if the government had not hyped the project as an ‘American University’ from the first day it announced it.

Not only was the project promised as a gift to the south, but also as a challenge to the “monopoly” enjoyed by the public University of Malta. The decision not to grant Sadeen university status also raises another question: is Sadeen lagging behind in the accreditation process? Was this an acknowledgment that as things stand the National Commission responsible for accreditation cannot recognise Sadeen as a university?

Ultimately the Zonqor issue will drag on over the next year. Muscat will confidently present the economic argument in favour of offering cheap land to attract net worth individuals to Malta. But he risks perpetuating the perception that he is bending the rules to accommodate Sadeen. The government will attempt to fast-track the application through the planning process while facing civil society opposition which has been given a new lease of life by the government’s parliamentary antics.

Moreover the fast-tracking in the planning authority could well hit a snag: the new environment authority which has been granted the power to appeal planning decisions with the final decision being taken by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal. If Environment Minister Leo Brincat sticks to his word and appoints competent and independent people (as I would expect him to do), the government may well end up facing an appeal presented by an Environmental Authority of its own creation.

After all, 18,000 square metres of ODZ land is no joke and the SPED states clearly that ODZ land can only be considered if government had failed to find an alternative within development boundaries. Any failure by EA (Environment Authority) to object to the project would be interpreted that it is being run by ‘yes’ men or women.

Just as the commission responsible for accreditation appears to have had cold feet on Sadeen’s university credentials, the EA may have its own qualms. Ultimately the government may end up a victim of its own hall of mirrors as the project’s legitimacy is institutionally challenged.