Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1490058
MATTHEW AGIUS THERE appears to be no end in sight for Republic Street shop- keepers whose premises' facades have been blemished by scaf- folding for the past four years. Construction work at the 11, Republic Street site has evi- dently stopped some time ago – a peek between the hoard- ing boards shows the site to be overgrown with weeds and full of construction debris. The construction site is cov- ered by planning authority permit PA/06780/18, for the redevelopment of commer- cial premises as a shopping complex and restaurant. The proposal includes the demo- lition of dangerous parts and other alterations and reflects a previously approved permit PA/02199/08, which has since expired. The owner of one nearby business, who asked not to be named, told MaltaToday that according to his estimates, he experienced a 50% drop in rev- enue since the scaffolding was erected, as well as flooding in his shop as a result of the con- struction site. He makes the claim that the situation had been engineered by the owner of a competing business. That claim, while virtually impossible to prove without executive investigative powers, is lent credibility by the fact that the competitor's name al- so appears on the original 2008 planning application, and is replaced by the same business' CEO on the latter one. "This is the fifth change in contrac- tor. It's a never ending sto- ry," lamented the shop owner, pointing out that besides being overgrown with weeds, the site was now "full of dead rats and pigeons" and posed a real se- curity risk to nearby premises. "It's not pleasant at all." The shop owner says that he had raised the issue with the Valletta Local Council, whose approval was required for the scaffolding to be put in place, and had been unofficially in- formed that the scaffolding had been erected to create an advertising space, with the revenue from it being shared between the owner of the un- derlying property and the local council. Normally scaffolding is erect- ed to protect the facade, from one storey upwards and not from ground level, the busi- nessman added. "It's an eye- sore. The scaffolding was here when the Pope visited and now Christmas is coming." "The way things are going, the scaffolding will be there for an- other five years," he said. Questions sent to the Vallet- ta Local Council a month ago, which issued the scaffolding permit, remain unanswered at the time of going to print. magius@mediatoday.com.mt 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 NEWS air mass of high pressure estab- lished itself over northern Afri- ca and started to extend itself over the Mediterranean and southern Europe. This, Galdies says, marked a point when re- cord high temperatures for this time of the year were registered across most of Europe. Galdies says Malta's weather in the last few days is under the influence of colder air coming from the north, which explains the sudden shift in tempera- tures. He predicts that due to cli- mate change, Malta will see more of these abnormal weath- er patterns in the future. Cli- mate change, he says, is the greatest issue of our time. But is it too late to act now? For Galdies, the answer comes in how proactive countries are in tackling this issue. "We must recognise that hu- man activity is largely responsi- ble for climate change and that it is up to us to act now," he says. "Taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint and investing in renewable energy sources are two key ways that we can miti- gate climate change." Existential threat Malta's Climate Change Am- bassador Simone Borg spells out the urgency to act now in the face of scientific reports by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which show that life on the planet fac- es an existential threat unless the increase in temperature is restricted to less than 1.5 de- grees Celcius. "It's not the case to wait," she says. "EU member states are doing their utmost to keep on track and become more ambi- tious in climate action, but not the same can be said of other parties to the Paris Agreement, unfortunately." Governments play an im- portant role since they are accountable for regulations and other measures to nudge the much-needed behaviour- al change, according to Borg. But governments cannot do it alone. "Just as much as governments could not fight the pandemic alone, both the private sector and civil society must embrace the required changes for the transition to a decarbonized economy," she insists. Governments have to facili- tate a "just transition", which means that efforts to decarbon- ize must not leave anybody be- hind. Support measures must be planned carefully to ensure a transition that is fair and availa- ble and beneficial to all strata of society, she says. "This is definitely a very chal- lenging situation but I do be- lieve that humanity has never been better equipped as we are now to deal with an existential threat of biblical proportions as the UN Secretary General likes to refer to it," Borg says. In Biblical terminology, a pomegranate is a metaphor for the richness of the promised land of Israel. The sweetness of the pomegranate enjoyed in January could very well be a re- minder of a promised land lost unless humanity pulls together to stymie climate change. Shops' ire at Republic Street scaffolding, now in its fourth year Top: Gary Formosa displays a pomegranate from his yield Above: Malcolm Borg