Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1382687
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 JUNE 2021 OPINION Raphael Vassallo 'The best in the world'. Laughable, certainly… OK, I'll admit it is tempting to simply climb aboard the media bandwagon, and write a scath- ing satirical take-down of Robert Abela's latest gaffe… even if, to be fair, it doesn't come anywhere close to some of the more aston- ishing things the same prime minister has also uttered, in the one-and-a-half years he's been in that role. You know: 'We have won the war on COVID-19'. 'Waves are found only in the sea', etc. etc… But hey, let's not dig all that up again. The point is, for Robert Abela to suddenly claim, out of nowhere, that "Malta must strive to be the 'best in the world' in the next decade" – when we can all see that, in a great many are- as, we are quite clearly cruising ahead in the clean opposite di- rection – is also to pretty much send out a gilt-edged invitation to public derision. And this time, he seems to have almost literally added an 'RSVP', too. Consider, for instance, the 'five pillars' he aims to actually build this Utopic economic vi- sion upon: "Sustainable economic growth; Infrastructure; Education; Good governance; and… [choke, choke, cough, cough]… the En- vironment." Sorry, but… that's really ask- ing for it, now. Without even trying too hard, I could bore any number of holes right through every single one of those pil- lars… but for the time being, I'll concentrate only on the one that Abela himself described as 'the most important' (also because it reflects on quite a few of the others, too: notably 'sustainable economic growth' and 'infra- structure'… but also 'good gov- ernance'… heck, even 'educa- tion', now that I think about it…) 'The environment'. Yes, it cer- tainly is the most important of the lot. But… come on. Serious- ly. Who on earth does our prime minister even think he is trying to kid…? On the very same day he said that, the Planning Authority Board went on to commit its lat- est national outrage: this time, by approving the notorious DB project in St George's Bay… which will soon dwarf and ut- terly disfigure the surrounding landscape (whilst also making life hell for all the residents of nearby Pembroke, for years if not decades to come…) But never mind, for now, that the project is in itself an affront to all accepted norms of proper urban planning, environmental protection, and all the rest. (For too many reasons to be listed out here: but I will mention one, because it is quite frankly outra- geous. The viability of this pro- ject also depends on an 'as-yet unapproved' 1.4km tunnel, to be bored underneath a Natura 2000 site, which will also radically in- crease the volume of traffic – and with it, congestion, air pol- lution, more stress, wider roads, fewer trees, etc., etc., etc. – into the entire neighbourhood. And this can only mean that the same tunnel project has itself already been pre-emptively green-light- ed… but is merely awaiting the final rubber-stamp of an official PA vote). Leaving all that aside, howev- er: it is how this project was ap- proved, that makes such an open mockery of all Robert Abela's new-found commitment to 'en- vironmental excellence'. Starting with the fact that the Environment and Resources Authority – i.e., the only institu- tion, in Malta's entire planning infrastructure, that is actually supposed to protect us against precisely this sort of atrocity – had recused itself from the deci- sion-making process altogether. And yes: it obviously wouldn't have made very much difference either way… seeing as how the same ERA had earlier approved a much larger, much more gro- tesque version of the same pro- ject, on the same site…. But put those two observations together, and they tell us some- thing about precisely why the state of Malta's environment has deteriorated so very alarmingly, in the last few years alone. It has become a classic case of 'Environment Last'. Ever since the ill-fated 2013 MEPA de- merger – and all the subsequent tinkering of the local plans – the environment has plummeted so far down the scale of national priorities, that… well, you can't even say it's on the 'bottom rung' anymore. It is, quite frankly, not even on the ladder at all. And that's just the start. Some- how, in their mad scramble to finalise their latest 'fait accom- pli', what was left of the PA Board also managed to overlook the three local councils – rep- resenting no fewer than 30,000 residents – which had objected from the start… not to mention the unprecedented 17,000 for- mal objections, filed over the years by the general public. None of that was even tak- en into consideration at all, it seems… and what's more: it turns out that three of the four board members who voted in favour, didn't even open their mouths once throughout the entire meeting. Let's face it: the whole thing was a blatant charade, from be- ginning to end. And it remains just one project… but one exam- ple of countless other cases, in Robert Abela