From red to grey: The year of environmental regression

One cannot accuse the government of entirely betraying its election promises.  For while the Labour opposition committed itself to improve air quality through an epochal shift to natural gas, even before the election its priority on planning was that of reducing bureaucracy and encouraging projects like land reclamation.  

Still few expected the government to be so blatant in its drive to accommodate development on all fronts.  

Moreover Muscat misled the electorate when declaring before the election that the airstrip in Gozo “was not a priority” or when he repeatedly said that ODZ boundaries would not be extended.

“I want to make it clear that we will start off from the premise that the boundaries of the outside development zones will not be touched,” Muscat said in January 2013.  Now junior planning minister Michael Falzon refuses to rule out an extension of boundaries, insisting that even from “an aesthetic point of view it would make sense to include lands which were left out unfairly” in the 2006 extension of boundaries. 

Surely so far the government has avoided a landmark battle with green NGOs.  

So far the skirmishes with environmentalists were on the perceived effect of policies whose impact will be incremental and hard to see in the immediate future.  

But such a battle is bound to take place over government plans for an airstrip in Gozo, ODZ development in the White Rocks area or if the government approves land reclamation plans at Bahar ic-Caghaq.  

Change in small doses?

But so far the government has opted for incremental policy change, which makes more small-scale developments possible.

So the structure plan is set to be replaced by a set of policy guidelines, which foresee land reclamation, a Gozo airstrip and even tourism development in Comino.

A new policy on ODZ development approved this year, envisions a myriad of small-scale developments ranging from shops, stables and wineries to agr-tourism facilities located in the countryside. Surely this is a major vote winner in rural areas as farmers see their countryside ruins appreciate in value. But the entry of construction engines on farmland in the next years may well solidify the perception that the environment is really going to the dogs.

A new policy on heights, which was tweaked without any public consultation to include Mriehel after public consultation was concluded, would permanently change the skyline.

Moreover hotels will not only benefit from an additional two storeys over and above local plan limits but could apply for any number of additional storeys if they represent a landmark building.

 Moreover the government plans for the new law splitting the environmental from the planning arms of MEPA envision changing the law, which forbids MEPA from regularising illegal developments in ODZ areas.  

Surely the government promises to balance out things through stricter enforcement and higher fines, but with MEPA’s resources already overstretched, it is hardly imaginable how MEPA can ensure that the new policies are not abused.

Moreover MEPA’s own structures are sending the wrong message. One notable case was the involvement of Appeal's tribunal  member Robert Sarsero as the private architect of a proposed ODZ development in Santa Lucija. The same appeal's tribunal which also includes Labour candidate and laywer Simon Micallef Stafrace has also distinguished itself in the issue of controversial permits like that for the redevelopment of Villa Degorgio in Sliema and the issue of a permit for a quarry in Wied Moqbol in Zurrieq.

The environmental deficit

Surely Labour may well plead that their actions pale in comparison with the actions of the previous government which had not only allowed illegalities to mushroom, with some pending enforcements on the coast dating back to the 1990s, but had presided over a massive extension of development boundaries in 2006.  

A MaltaToday probe in July revealed 24 illegal developments set on protected beaches.

In fact it was only after the 2008 election that the Gonzi administration started to address the environmental deficit through stricter planning rules.

Yet Labour seems to forget the environmental deficit it has inherited and pushes on with policies promoting more development.  

The latest hint that the government will tweak boundaries to include those which were left out unfairly in the 2006 ODZ extension may re-open a can of worms. For this process may well create the perception that the government is using the same pretext used in 2006 when the government claimed that it was simply including lands unfairly left out in 1988.

Surely there have been a few policies where the new government cannot be accused of pandering to developers. One such case was a circular protecting internal gardens from rampant development. Another policy is aimed at increasing the size of rooms in new dwellings in a bid to avoid the creation of small apartments nobody wants. Still even this policy has been tampered with, with proposals permitting taller buildings (over and above local plan limits) on street corners and in infill sites between blank party walls.

Cancer factories

Recently Joseph Muscat rightly observed that the environment is a wider issue than land use even if he fails to see the link between having more buildings and wider issues like air quality, traffic and physical and mental health.

The closure of the Marsa power station surely represents an epochal moment through which the quality of life of southern residents is set to improve.

Before the election Muscat had wrongly referred to the BWSC plant as a “cancer factory”, a claim rejected by experts. The claim was so superficial that the government extended the use of heavy fuel oil and refused to introduce gas oil until the conversion to gas takes place.   

The government claims that the new gas powered infrastructure will enable it to close the Marsa plant, which surely contributes to respiratory problems in the south of Malta.  

Although the previous government made the same claim when the interconnector was approved, it will be the Labour government which will see the Marsa plant closed after decades of PN promises to do so.

Yet this change will be partly made possible by another questionable development in Delimara, where LNG tankers will be berthed a short distance away from a power station. Surely in this case a trade off between air quality benefits and aesthetics is understandable and an element of risk exists in all projects.  

Still the government has benefited from an accommodating Marsaxlokk council, which has failed in keeping up pressure on the government to relocate the LNG tanker further offshore.

Moreover apart from the Marsa power station, the main source of air pollution in the island is traffic. So far public transport and road congestion have continued to deteriorate and much now depends on the performance of the new operators of the public transport service. 

Moreover planning policies allowing a sprawl of development in the countryside or allowing new mega projects or high rises in urban areas may well aggravate congestion.

The government should be praised for thinking out of the box by exploring new possibilities like the development of a monorail service. The environmental benefits of such a project depend on whether this will simply create a new level of traffic over and above existing roads or whether it would pave the way for more pedestrian traffic free zones in presently congested areas.  Decisions like shelving Renzo Piano’s plan for a landscaped garden in the Valletta ditch to make way for a car park send the opposite message.