MaltaToday previous editions

MALTATODAY 14 April 2019

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1104601

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 13 of 55

14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 APRIL 2019 NEWS WE are being offered glimpses of a bright new future that will have electric cars zipping on wider motorways; trad- ing schemes for developers to keep our urban conservation areas free of addi- tional storeys; or idyllic artificial islands as business-as-usual… almost inescap- able prospects of the immediate future. And here are six examples symptomat- ic of an attitude which sees government and big business claim to offer hope in the future while they carry on with their more immediate plans. 1. The petrol station saga A year ago Environment Minister José Herrera called for a revision of the petrol station policy approved by government in 2014, which had paved the way for the approval of four mega petrol stations on land outside development zones. More than a year has passed but the policy draft has yet to be issued for an- other round of public consultation. Yet on 11 April, the Planning Author- ity board is being asked to approve yet another petrol station on 1,680sq.m of good quality agricultural land in Bur- marrad. Meanwhile another application envisaging a fuel station on the scenic road to Rabat is at a very advanced stage. How many more fuel stations will be ap- proved before the policy is changed? 2. Approving projects before the infrastructure The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal – the PA's appeals board – has confirmed that the 38-storey tower in Pembroke by the DB group has been ap- proved in the absence of a clear commit- ment to develop a tunnel infrastructure to cater for an additional 7,000 car trips. In its decision the tribunal declared that final operational permits – required af- ter the development is completed – can only be issued when Transport Malta is satisfied that the infrastructure can take the extra traffic. Yet, in the absence of a masterplan for the whole area which emphasises public transport options, the whole process smacks of socialising infrastructural costs for private gain. 3. Putting the electric carrot at the end of the Gozo tunnel In a bid to counter environmental con- cerns on the Gozo tunnel, the PM has repeatedly declared that Malta's shift to electric cars should start in Gozo. Joseph Muscat has also recently de- clared that the change-over to electric cars will be as drastic as the time when the country changed to decimals and later to euros. While this a positive step, the transition to electric cars is a long- term solution: while after the cut-off date new cars would have to be elec- tric, those who already have petrol cars would be able to keep them. Moreover it is still unclear how an earlier cut-off date for non-electric cars in Gozo will keep petrol operated cars from crossing over from Malta. In the same breath, Muscat has in- sisted that on the proposed tunnel the government was willing to continue to listen and consult "but it was now at the stage of not if, but how". The problem is not that Muscat is pledging a cut-off date for fuel engines, but that Muscat is linking the transition to electric cars to the debate on the Gozo tunnel, which has wider impacts on the environment, including that on sensitive ecological ar- eas in the north of Malta. Muscat's declaration suggests that the government is unwilling to heed calls for a Strategic Environment Assessment, which would assess the environmental and social impacts of different solutions to the Gozo connectivity problem, a pre-condition for any informed debate before a final decision is taken. 4. The land reclamation panacea At the same time, while the PA contin- ues on a weekly basis to approve mega- projects three or four of which produce as much waste as the entire Gozo tun- nel, in the absence of any clear plan the government keeps proposing land recla- mation as a solution to the very real con- struction waste problem. So far, all we know about land reclama- tion is that the ERA is conducting stud- ies with the aim of identifying in which areas this can take place. Apart from studies conducted in the past, which indicate that real estate is indispensi- ble to render land reclamation feasible, we are still uninformed on how feasible this option is. Neither do we have a clue whether reclaimed land would serve a public purpose or would simply act as justification for more coastal hotel and Dissecting the greenwash assault JAMES DEBONO has a go at the tiresome excuses made by Labour ministers over their desultory record on the environment, with a guide to how government and big business offer 'hope' for future solutions while pressing on with questionable projects

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MALTATODAY 14 April 2019