Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1107757
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 institutions and convalescent homes. "The number of persons per room can be shocking where you have four, five, even six people per room in densely- populated areas. It's reflec- tive of a lack of affordability. It doesn't make sense socially, hygienically and from a family- environment perspective," he says, adding that this should be of concern to policymak- ers and that constant checking was required. It's also reflective of an inad- equate distribution of wealth, he said. Schembri says Malta always thrived on big projects, point- ing at the inauguration of the Valletta breakwater in 1903 as an example, a project that made the Grand Harbour an all-weather harbour. It was a project that generated a lot of work, as had the construction of the airport runway in the 1970s. As a British colony, at one point the dockyards em- ployed 14,000. "All major construction projects brought an influx of workers and saw a population increase," Schembri says, not- ing however that populations tended to be tempered by the impact of wars, or illnesses such as the Spanish flu, and of course emigration from Malta to Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. "There was always this policy to get in as many people as pos- sible to work in what is such a small place after all. Today we are not only attracting people to work in construction but al- so to work in IT, gaming, tech- nology and so on. The econo- my has now diversified. And while not a lot of land space is required for these industries – as opposed to previous indus- tries such as the textile trade – the only way our population growth can be controlled now is if these foreign workers start returning home." Where do we go from here? The Maltese census today is compiled differently to previ- ous editions. Previously, the census used to show how many people moved from one locality to another. Nowadays, it only shows the three most popular localities. "People are moving out of areas that are congested if they own a car. Shopping ar- eas too have developed in the suburbs – the cities aren't the only popular shopping spots anymore. The last very com- prehensive data we have is for the census of 2011, which was very important. This showed that most people who went to Attard, for example, are people from Hamrun and Birkirkara," he said. He added that Malta, demo- graphically, is now more con- centrated in the centre and north and that people are ba- sically moving just slightly far- ther away from cities. "It's interesting to note that only 60,000 people live above the Victoria Lines, including all of Gozo. All the rest, more than 400,000, congregate in the centre and north of Malta. The reason, possibly, is that this area is rather flat and it's easier to build infrastructure. The rest is hilly. "We're already seeing Mgarr being slowly built up, how- ever. It will be sad to see if the western part of Malta starts be- coming heavily developed too," Schembri said. While he is hopeful that this would never become a reality, he says that this movement towards the suburbs has been happening for years. "Floriana was designed to deal with the excessive population in Val- letta. Paola was designed to deal with the urban sprawl as well. Fgura was built due to the excessive population in Paola, and so on and so forth. Even Attard, which was once a quiet suburb, has become overpopu- lated with 12,000 persons per square kilometre there. This is indicative of a high number of persons per room." Schembri cites village cores as a possible solution. He says that he expects a new demo- graphic movement towards the village cores, especially because village cores are pro- tected from congestion, they are central, and attractive. But, even here, Schembri grimaces and notes that village cores could be targeted by business- men and developers, mention- ing as an example a boutique hotel planned in the Attard vil- lage core. "If anything, people will have to adapt to living in flats," Schembri says. dhudson@mediatoday.com.mt NEWS The population of Malta and Gozo in 2017 peaked at 475,701, with those aged between 30 and 39 accounting for the greatest share The highest increases in population occurred in the elderly population, while the number of those aged between 10 and 19 years of age registered the largest decrease, both in Malta and in Gozo The rate of Malta's population increase was 15 times more than that of the EU The population in Malta grew by 51,891 between 2012 and 2017 – but only by 1,300 in Gozo over the same period In 2017, the population was 442,978 in Malta and 32,723 in Gozo and Comino, representing 93% and 7% respectively of the total Prof. John Schembri's main concern is that if a massive population density is coupled with an inadequate distribution of wealth, the number of persons per room in Malta might become a worrying statistic "We're already seeing Mgarr being slowly built up, however. It will be sad to see if the western part of Malta starts becoming heavily developed too." Customs' drug bust streak: 144kg of cocaine valued at €15 million KURT SANSONE COCAINE with an esti- mated street value of €15.7 million was seized by cus- toms officials yesterday from three containers passing through the Free- port. A total of 120 packets of cocaine, weighing 144kg were discovered inside the refrigerant compressor unit of the three contain- ers, the department said. The customs container monitoring unit had select- ed several containers for scanning in the early hours yesterday and preliminary scans flagged irregularities in the three reefer contain- ers. A physical search con- firmed the suspicions. The first two containers from South America were passing through Malta on their way to the port of Durres in Albania. They contained 20 packets of co- caine each, weighing 48kg with a street value of €5.4 million. The third container from South America was passing through Malta on its way to the port of Bar in Mon- tenegro. Customs officials found 80 packets of cocaine weighing 96kg, with an esti- mated street value of €10.8 million. So far, this year 750kg of cocaine, worth €83.9 mil- lion have been seized by the customs department. Customs said that the lat- est operation was the result of a joint effort by the de- partment, the police and the Freeport to clamp down on the abuse. The customs department also thanked members of the Armed Forces of Malta for their as- sistance. "The case has been handed over to the police anti-drug squad for further investiga- tions and a duty magistrate is leading an inquiry," the customs department said. A 24-year-old Tarxien resident has been arrested by the police after he nar- rowly missed hitting police officers that stopped him as he was driving his car through Hamrun yester- day in the afternoon. A police spokesperson said the young man was stopped and told to switch off his car's engine by po- lice officers as he was driv- ing through St Joseph High Street. Instead, the young man drove at the police, knock- ing over a police motor- bike. He was later apprehend- ed by traffic police with the assistance of the Rapid Intervention Unit. The police spokesperson said nobody was injured in the incident, with the youth now under arrest. Youth drives into police motorbike in attempt to evade search