Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1034189
19 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 SEPTEMBER 2018 INTERVIEW tunnel linking the project to the major road networks. Leaving aside that this tun- nel will not solve those issues anyway: according to the plans, the proposed tunnel will end up directly in the City Centre's own carpark… a tunnel made by the government, please note. But the real issue is that the proposed tunnel is not part of this project to begin with. It is a separate project, and there isn't even an application for it yet. So the PA Board approved a pro- ject with this pending proviso – that it needs a tunnel – when there is no guarantee that this tunnel will ever be built. What if the application is rejected? What happens then? This is why I can't understand how the ERA representative could have supported this. The ERA itself – not to mention the developers – insist that without a tunnel, this project cannot go ahead… Why do you think ERA would contradict itself like that? In the case of other Board members there may be conflicts of interest, or other reasons to support this project. But the ERA doesn't seem to be involved in anything similar… I don't know. It's a question you'll have to ask directly to Victor Axiak. All I can say is that, when he started talking at the meeting itself, we all looked at each other in disbe- lief. We just couldn't believe what we were hearing. First he spent 15 minutes literally lec- turing the NGO representative on the Board about how this project will have 'no environ- mental impact at all'… when the ERA's own report states that air pollution will exceed all acceptable limits without a tunnel… and it concludes by saying that the environmental impact cannot even be meas- ured, because there isn't a master plan. Now: in other cases, Victor Axiak had said he couldn't vote in favour, because the project went against the ERA's recom- mendations. In this case, how- ever, he said there would be no environmental impact, despite his own agency's report. Then the case officer and developer asked a few questions that we felt were staged…. and Axiak concluded his reply by saying: "if only all developers were like you." So he didn't just vote in favour of the project; he actively de- fended it, when all the environ- mental NGOs and various ex- perts were against. You ask me why? I honestly don't know… This leaves us with the question of who is left to defend the environment when such decisions are taken. The ERA, as you suggest, cannot be depended upon… … and they only have one vote on the Board anyway, so even if the intention was there, the ERA doesn't have the strength to stop a project like this… … and political parties often depend directly on the construction lobby for their own financing. As far as I can see, this leaves only activists and civil society in general. Traditionally, civil society has always been weak when it came to affecting this sort of change. Do you feel a change in the wind, so to speak? Has this latest case galvanised some form of broader grassroots support for the environmental lobby in Malta? Yes. We can definitely feel a change in the air. Before, envi- ronmentalist activism was al- ways restricted to the activists themselves. Today, however, there is a certain level of con- cern and alarm that is much more widespread. And I think the reason is fairly simple, at the end of the day. Now, people are feeling the effects directly them- selves. After so many years of envi- ronmental degradation, peo- ple are finally realising that they live in country where it is difficult to even breathe. I don't just mean because of pollution: but because every- where is built up; because, to get into contact with nature, you have to drive somewhere by car… Even in towns and villages, our urban centres are badly planned, resulting in too much congestion everywhere; no open spaces, no 'breathing space' of any kind. It all boils down to the same thing: lack of serious planning. And it's not just because we're not good at planning in general; but because there are inter- ests which work against proper planning. There are powerful lobbies that are more interest- ed in making as much money as quickly as possible. Serious planning is not in their inter- est; it is incompatible with what they want, and what they have the clout to get. Today, howev- er, people are beginning to feel the effects. It is now affecting them directly. Before, environmentalist activism was always restricted to the activists themselves. Today, however, there is a certain level of concern and alarm that is much more widespread not just planning