Nature Trust Malta has said applauded Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s “bold step in thinking out of the box and actually having the courage to air his concerns about the high dependence of our economic growth on the construction industry.”
Nature Trust also welcomed his remarks that “we must gradually steer away from this pathway and seek other innovative ways of boosting economic growth sustainably that do not damage the environment.” (quote Clyde Caruana).
The environmental NGO urged the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition to “support the Minister of Finance views as only in this way would both parties be implementing the much needed sustainable development vision for the the Maltese islands,”it said.
NTM stressed that, “today where many economies seek innovation, we cannot keep gripped to a centuries old type of economic model still seeking to defend the construction lobby and practically let it lead the political scenario by portraying itself as the lifeline for our economic model based only on construction.”
“It is a fact that the construction industry relies mostly on foreign workers who are underpaid and living in substandard conditions at the expense of their employers,” the eNGO said.
Moreover, it said, “a holistic review of Planning Policies, especially Local Plans, are an urgent need in order to address the uglification of our urban landscapes through bad design and the gradual spilling over of development into ODZ through various loopholes.”
The NGO is appealing to decision makers – “most importantly the politicians to have the courage to shift their mindset and seek alternative strategies which will sustain economic growth without further damage to our limited space on our Islands.”
NTM argued that, “going vertical is definitely NOT the solution to sustain the construction industry as we are fast reaching over-capacity and destroying our traditional urban townscapes especially UCAs which are now being engulfed by modern fortresses of tall tasteless buildings.”
It added that “the construction industry is in fact killing one of the very products which characterises our cultural heritage: our urban landscapes – which are much advertised by the tourism sector.”
The eNGO pointed out that “it is about time that politicians humbly accept the limited size of our islands and fruitfully exploit other economic scenarios based on where the government is investing money in: education.”
It stressed that “the wellbeing of current and future generations should be a priority over the enrichment of the construction industry which relies mostly on the exploitation of foreign underpaid workers.”
Nature Trust Malta concluded that “after all, political parties speak of Sustainable Development and now they should pass from words to action.