Ten ENGOs from across Malta and Gozo said that they have ”taken note” of a number of proposals made by the Prime Minister relating to the environment. The proposals include the extension and formation of a number of new national parks, including at Manoel Island, and a commitment that the Government would not use publicly owned Rationalisation sites for ”speculative ‘purposes.”

The ENGOs, in a joint statement on Thursday, said that they feel that ”establishing new national parks is a positive step, but question why these started being proposed after the protests against the Planning Reform last October.”

”Our country has endured long years of destructive overdevelopment, which has disfigured our towns and green spaces,” they said. ”This is a direct result of the Government’s resistance to regulate the building industry.”

They highlighted the fact that ”a number of parks are now being proposed at the eleventh hour as compensation for the damage done to the country, while there is still no mention of regulating the excesses of the building industry. In fact, a few days ago, the Prime Minister has even indicated that he would change the Local Plans, stripping away protections enjoyed by our towns and potentially even ODZ areas.”

Regarding the rationalisation sites, the ENGOs acknowledged that this is a ”partial concession to one of the demands they made in April.”

The Gustizzja Ghal Artna Campaign said that it had originally proposed that ”areas of agricultural, natural, social or historical value which were removed from ODZ in 2006 and which have not been legally committed to development through approved applications should return to ODZ and be protected from construction. Resident groups had likewise put forward similar proposals.”

The ENGOs observed that the Government is ”limiting itself to protecting only publicly owned rationalisation sites from speculative development. Although the protection of these public sites is a positive step, we are concerned that other kinds of development may still be allowed on these sites.”

They noted that ”for instance, some of these sites may fall prey to the upcoming planning regulations on the commercialisation of sports facilities, where the Government awards concessions to third parties to develop nominal sports facilities surrounded by shops, restaurants and the like in order to make the sports facilities ‘commercially viable.’ Other sites may be given away to developers to develop ‘affordable housing’ schemes under public-private partnership arrangements.”

The ENGOs stressed that they ”do not feel confident that these sites will necessarily return to the community as viable green spaces in our localities.”

The ENGOs also pointed out that the rationalisation site proposal is ”unlikely to put residents’ minds at rest, since most of these rationalisation sites are in private hands and today’s announcement will not affect these in the slightest. Construction on these sites will continue and more green spaces in our towns will be eaten away by private speculative development.”

The ENGOs stressed that they are also ”very concerned that the Government will start giving away our sea to private land reclamation projects, such as the scandalous lido which was just proposed at Sliema Strand.”

The ENGOs added that they are also ”troubled by the fact that the Government is already ignoring the illegal development of padel courts within the Manoel Island project and that this does not augur well for the proposed national parks. This is giving rise to concerns that these parks will be taken over by private interests, and the Government is not putting these fears to rest in any way with its inaction.”

The ENGOs said that in their opinion there seems to be ”no willingness or intention to change course, as the Government will continue to put developers’ interests first. Within this context, positive measures such as those proposed, end up treating the symptoms instead of the real cause of the country’s severe environmental problems.”

The statement was signed by:

Ramblers’ Association of Malta

Moviment Graffitti

Friends of the Earth Malta

BirdLife Malta

Din l-Art Helwa

Nature Trust Malta

Wirt Ghawdex

Ghawdix

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar

Front Zghazagh ghall-Ambjent.

File photo: Gozo News/Alain Salvary

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