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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 NOVEMBER 2020 Attack the local plans Editorial IN recent years, Malta's institutional problems have been under the constant glare of local and interna- tional media scrutiny. But while the focus has (jus- tifiably) been on rule-of-law issues, no one seems to be scrutinising other areas of national concern, where the institutions we rely on for our protection also tend to prove faulty – or worse – in action. Perhaps the most glaring omission concerns the environment. On too many occasions, over the years, have the country's planning institutions and environ- mental agencies simply let the country down: among other things, by consistently overriding all legitimate public objections, in a mad scramble to approve controversial, land-grabbing develop- ment projects. The latest Planning Authority decision – to approve a new Chinese embassy on 19,500sq.m of woodland in Pembroke – seems to merely cement the popular perception of a system that is designed to favour development at all costs… even, at times, against the government's own planning laws and policies. In approving this permit, the PA decided to close an eye at multiple aspects of the local plans for the Pembroke area: including a height limi- tations of three storeys which the embassy's six storeys will now double And while the Environ- ment and Resources Authority objected to the loss of supposedly protected woodland area, and to the destruction of natural habitats of signifi- cant ecological importance… chairperson Victor Axiak later admitted that his 'hands were tied' by the decision to zone the area for the Chinese embassy in 2012. In the end, all such objections were overcome by a final vote that yielded the all-too familiar PA approval pattern: nine against two; with only the representatives of eNGOs and the local council voting against. (Important note: all PA members are hand- picked by government ministers, which effective- ly are upholding planning rules only when it suits their agenda). While the details tend to vary from case to case, the same pattern can be seen underpinning all such major planning decisions. The reality is the 2006 Local Plans were designed by civil servants, on orders and by approval of MPs; who have been in turn petitioned by landowners and developers to determine which areas can enjoy particular heights, or mixed-use allowances to benefit their own business goals. As a result, what little remains of Malta's open spaces is constantly being eaten up by a glut of uncontrolled development, which no one – least of all, any of the institutions that regulate the sector – seems capable of bringing to heel. In the former Trade Fair Grounds in Naxxar, for instance, there are currently three permit applications under consideration by the PA, for separate projects that would – if approved – re- sult in the construction of 675 apartments: in- cluding an eight-storey tower for 113 apartments. Until 2017, this site had been designated as a "white area", where no development could take place at all. But the Planning Authority approved development parameters for the site, then paved the way for separate applications on different plots. It remains to be seen if the projects will be ap- proved; it is clear, however, that no thought at all is being given to the longer-term consequences of all this unbridled construction. Developers no longer even conceal their dis- dain for rules and procedures: and just keep sub- mitting applications which openly defy all Malta's laws and policies, on the understanding that the entire system is geared in their favour. But there are also indications that the wider public is growing increasingly exasperated by this state of affairs; and the more let down they feel, the likelier they are to eventually take matters into their own hands. From this perspective, it is not incidental that six environmental organisations will be taking court action to challenge a government deed that ceded the l-Aħrax and Miżieb woodlands to the hunting lobby FKNK. It represents a last, desperate stand against a field system; and while the court action, in itself, may or may not work… it nonetheless points its finger at precisely where this struggle needs to move. The only way for residents all over Malta and Gozo to protest this assault on all good sense and our serenity, is to crowdfund a new campaign: forcing the redrawing of local plans in Malta, whether by court action or (preferably) by popu- lar referendum. This is the only common road left for all frag- mented residents' groups, eNGOs and activists to redress the institutional bias against them. It is this saga – the use of local plans, sealed by the whim of MPs for the benefit of developers and landowners, to the detriment of ordinary resi- dents – that must be disrupted, if our last open spaces are to be saved. 25 October, 2010 Minister's 'home decorator' told to pay €42 million THE developers that were reportedly currying favour with finance minister Tonio Fenech to broker the sale of one of their properties, JPM Brothers, have been served with a court order to pay up €42.2 and €1.3 million in interest, on a defaulting loan taken out with Austri- an-owned Bawag bank. Unprecedented in Maltese banking history for the value involved, the €42 million loan was signed between Bawag bank and Gemxija Crown Ltd, the developers of Mistra Heights: 868 resi- dential units in tower blocks of 11 storeys high on the site of the former Corinthia Mistra Vil- lage in Xemxija. Gemxija is jointly owned by a subsidiary of Kuwaiti real estate giant Al Massaleh and JPM brothers. Works at Mistra were already at a standstill in 2009, when JPM owners Jeffrey and Peter Montebello were carrying out a renovation on finance minister Tonio Fenech's villa in Balzan. But when their subcontractor complained about not being paid for works, he revealed to MaltaToday how Peter Montebello had told him that works were "a favour" for brokering the sale – which never materialised – of the Jerma Hotel to entrepreneurs George Fenech and Joe Gasan. Najeeb al Saleh – the chairman of Al Massaleh and also Fimbank Group – told this newspaper last week that Massaleh "is in discussions with JPM regarding their share at Mistra Heights but cannot elaborate further due to confidentiality undertakings… as for Fimbank, it has no relation whatsoever with the issues mentioned." Sources said that negotiations had previously stalled between the Montebellos and Al Saleh on the price to liquidate their share. In May 2009, Fimbank had to disassociate itself from the Mistra Height project, when Jeffrey Montebello denied to the press having problems financing the project, because "Fimbank is one of our partners." Bawag's call-in imperils the collateral tied to Mistra Heights, reportedly the very land on which it was to be developed and inevitably strengthens the hand of Al Saleh to proceed with the development without the Montebellos. ... Quote of the Week "Those who keep insisting on publishing, distributing and displaying the infamous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.... play into the hands of the Muslim extremists and the extreme right groups. They are directly responsible for any unfortunate consequences." Malta imam Mohammed El Sadi MaltaToday 10 years ago