[WATCH] Steve Zammit Lupi: Long-term sustainability should guide Labour’s greening strategy

The Labour government’s €700 million electoral promise to introduce green public spaces in a number of localities around Malta, must have long-term sustainability at its core, Ħaż-Żebbuġ councilor and environmentalist Steve Zammit Lupi has said.

“It is good to have that commitment from government. The crux lies in how that project will be implemented. You can change the whole Maltese landscape with €700 million,” he said.

Zammit Lupi was interviewed on XTRA Sajf by host Kurt Sansone.

During the 2022 General Election campaign, the Labour Party unveiled seven key projects that will see several underground parking areas turn into green public spaces by placing the existing car space in an underground parking.

Over a seven-year period, the Labour Party pledged to invest €700 million to create these spaces. A number of localities including Floriana, San Ġwann, Birkirkara and the Cottonera area have been earmarked for the project.

“If you spend that money to dig underground parking, to hide cars underground, then the funds would be limited to certain areas,” he said. “Government should not stop at just those areas. If that money is spent on a wider scale, the impact would be much greater.”

The Ħaż-Żebbuġ councillor also spoke about a number of landscaping projects carried out in the area, with the locality’s main road seeing a €200,000 investment for the introduction of new trees.

Along Ħaż-Żebbuġ’s Vjal il-Helsien, trees specifically chosen to ensure no damage is inflicted on surrounding properties were planted over the past year. After three years the trees become self-sustaining, and only require limited maintenance.

“It was the dream of many residents, and mine as well, to see trees installed in that road. The Ħaż-Żebbuġ main road had Ficus trees in the past, which were removed as they were damaging properties in their vicinity,” he said.

“It was a challenge to convince people about the projects. Unfortunately, in Malta there is an unfounded fear of trees in urban centres, because in the past trees were planted randomly and ended up causing damage,” he said. “There is an ideal tree for any area.”

In another project, the council issued a call for residents to sponsor a tree which would be planted in an area in Ħaż-Żebbuġ.

Early in his council’s legislature, Zammit Lupi had identified a number of locations suitable for the tree planting project to be carried out, so that during the next five years, the council introduces the trees, cares for them, and they become self-sustainable.

“We identified areas beyond the village square and the playground - areas which would have been ignored,” Zammit Lup said.

The sponsorship campaign would see residents donating around €40 for one tree. “We managed to collect around €4,000 in the span of two days. This shows that people want these kinds of projects.”

The discussion, hosted by Kurt Sansone, also revolved around the need for more waste management efforts, the need for alternative modes of transport and the necessity for more sustainable infrastructure.