Cassola: two-year moratorium on high-rise for ‘assaulted’ Sliema, St Julian’s

Independent candidate Arnold Cassola is calling for a two-year moratorium for high-rise buildings, as a breathing space for Malta to take stock of its last years of non-stop construction.

Cassola said Malta’s natural beauty and public spaces were being lost to 30-storey ‘monsters’ built without any national plan or sustainable criteria.

“We are duty bound to preserve our cultural heritage for future Maltese generations and for humanity, in general.  For these reasons, I am proposing  a two year moratorium on highrises, in order for us to reflect on the mistakes of the past and to plan wisely for the future,” Cassola said.

Cassola, a 10th and 11th district candidate, said the localities of Sliema, St Julian’s, Pembroke and Gzira had seen a massive assault by developers on the right of residents to enjoy their homes in a peaceful and clean environment.

“Time and time again, under successive governments, large scale developers are given free hand to build ever more unsustainable massive projects which impinge blatantly in the rights of residents,” Cassola said, pointing to over-development as a national problem.

“Noise from building sites at all times of the day, dust and other forms of pollution, damage to surrounding property and to the public infrastructure and services with high rise buildings starting  to  impinge on  the rights of neighbours to use their roofs for solar energy are just some of the examples of the massive problems residents are facing.

“It is clear that time and time again, the environment and the rights of ordinary citizens play second fiddle to wealthy developers, like Joseph Portelli, who publicly and openly boast that they finance the main political parties,” Cassola said,

Cassola said that despite changes in regulatory authorities and the introduction of new environment authorities, the situation had not improved, but become much worse.

“Once again it is abundantly clear that the only way for the powerful developers to be kept in check is for people to vote for this,” Cassola said, calling on voters not to support mainstream parties.

“This can be done by voting for independent and third party candidates who have walked the talk in favour of the environment throughout their lives, are not in the pockets of the developers and have the will and the credibility to protect the environment and the rights of residents through concrete and direct action.”