Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/734031
14 LIKE C3PO on the desert sands of Tatooine, one is inclined to ask whether certain localities in Malta were 'born to suffer'. It seems to be the lot of certain towns and villag- es to put up with more hustle and bustle than others. And few places can claim to have endured more than Gzira: a small but densely populated urban strip huddled along the foreshore of inner Mar- samxett harbour. Traditionally, Gzira has always attracted more traffic than else- where – largely because it lies sandwiched between two other important traffic nodes: Sliema, and Msida. But in recent years the place has grown substantially. Al- ready home to a large government housing estate, the upward urban expansion that previously claimed Sliema has made inroads through- out Gzira's narrow streets: with townhouses giving way to apart- ments that accommodate consid- erably more people on the same footprint. But Gzira has grown in other ways, too. Once widely regarded as run-down and depressed, the town's economic profile has been greatly boosted by the presence of several large I-gaming agencies and other international offices. Its once quiet seafront now bustles with restaurants and cafes... often sprouting from one minute to the next. Needless to say, the demo- graphics of the neighbourhood have likewise changed beyond rec- ognition. Gzira is in fact home to one of Malta's most multi-cultural communities, in which a dozen different languages can be heard in its streets. Property rental value has soared in step with all these changes. Yet this quantum leap forward seems to have come at a cost. Me- tre for metre, Gzira is arguably also the most densely over-developed part of the entire country. Now the area has been included in the high-rise zones, and several pro- jects are lined up in the meantime – Manoel Island, Metropolis and the old Hertz building, to mention but three. It is against this backdrop that Gzira's mayor Conrad Borg Man- che made headlines by joining environmentalist protesters in the attempt to reclaim Manoel Island from its private lease-holders. But one step at a time. My first question for Borg Manche when we meet at the local council office is: can Gzira actually cope with the imminent construction and devel- opment boom? "Let's start with the obvious: Gzira is small. It only covers one and a half square kilometres... and that includes Manoel Island. You cannot really put a lot there, un- less you provide for parking, and all the other basic infrastructural needs. It's also very congested. On paper there are 8,000 people living in Gzira today. In reality, I would say there are many more..." Is that part of the reason that ac- cess to the foreshore of Manoel Island has become such an impor- tant issue for the local council? "I didn't connect the two issues myself. I saw Manoel Island as a separate issue. But it's true: they can be connected. In fact I recently stated that, if you take Manoel Is- land away from us, all we'd be left with is traffic, exhaust, pavements and roads. There's nowhere else to go... except Marina gardens, which will shortly be regenerated. But otherwise, Gzira is very congested. When construction comes into play, there's a lot going on at the same time. And it's bothering eve- ryone. We try to co-ordinate, but it's becoming too hectic..." Does the council receive com- plaints to that effect? "Of course. All the time. Roads closed, traf- fic diversions, dust, noise... it's understandable that they'd com- plain. What I tell them, however, is that I don't have any control over projects. We do our best to co-ordinate: trying to avoid clos- ing two roads at the same time, for instance. But I have no say in permits issued by the Planning Au- thority. Right now, for instance, I have three tower cranes less than 100 metres from each other. I can't stop it: I can't tell them, 'listen, you have to wait for the other projects to finish'. If they have a PA permit, you have to give them a permit to start." These projects do not include some of the major ones designated for the area: including Metropolis: a high-rise mega-project that has yet to get under way. In view of already existing problems: does he agree that Gzira should have been included in the high-rise zones in the first place? "If it were just about high-rise in general, I'd say it depends where you put the development. It's a double-edged sword. When you have high-rise, there will be an area which has to be left open. So it's a choice: either you limit building heights to seven storeys, but the buildings will be all the way to the road; or you go up, but leave open areas surrounding the develop- ment. I don't know exactly how I'd choose, but high-rise coupled with open spaces does make sense..." Meanwhile, he adds that Gzira is currently left without almost any open space to speak of... and a large part of its own territory has been taken away from its residents. This brings us to the recent ac- tivism we saw at Manoel Island – Gzira's 'contested territory', so to speak. Borg Manche himself led the cavalcade to reoccupy the place; but all along, most of the island remains contractually the property (on a temporary emphy- teusis) of a private consortium. Before turning to the pivotal issue of access to the foreshore... part of the justification for the original concession was that it would re- lieve government of the expense of restoring the area's historical heritage. How would he react to the argu- ment, then, that Midi consortium has already invested in the reha- bilitation of Fort Manoel, and is therefore only trying to protect it from vandalism? "As you say, I've been to Manoel Island recently. I can tell you how much restoration they did, because I remember how it was before. All they did was the fort: and even then, only the front bastions fac- ing Valletta, and the inside. But the sides and the back haven't been touched yet. As for the rest of the island, they've done nothing..." Borg Manche took photos on his first incursion, which suggest that much of Manoel Island has indeed been left dilapidated. Wasn't the upkeep and maintenance of the area also part of the original agree- ment? "Of course. It's part of the obli- gations of the concession, clearly stated in the contract..." So, it seems, was guaranteeing access to the foreshore; and yet ac- cess has been sealed off and gated for several years. Does this suggest that the consortium may be too powerful to be defeated at institu- tional level? "Going on how things happened lately, I don't think they are power- ful. At the end of the day, the pow- er of the people showed that public outcry can change anything..." Midi did in fact concede limited, controlled access on Saturdays. But what I meant was whether the authorities themselves can re- ally do anything about a project in which such influential busi- nessmen are involved. Recently, for instance, V18 chairman Jason Micallef tweeted that the govern- ment's inaction suggested that Malta was 'in the hands of six families'... "To be honest, I spoke to the Prime Minister recently about something else, and I asked him about what was happening on Ma- noel Island. He said: 'it's up to you, you're the mayor. Whatever you want to do, do it.' I was left in total liberty to act on this issue..." But doesn't that also mean he was left on his own? "Not really. I think mayors should have the power to take ac- tion. And I enjoyed it, to be hon- est, because it felt like being a real mayor. We should not only look at bulbs in the street, and holes in the pavement. When an issue like this comes along, we have to act. We are elected by our constituents for that purpose." Does he feel he has support from the government? "Yes. I did all my research on the contract, and what was said in parliament at that time, and I informed the government of my findings. I told them, listen we have to act. There is MEPA, it can do an enforcement. Now the ball is in your court." What about Midi itself? One as- sumes Borg Manche tried knock- ing on the door before climbing through the window... "At the beginning, when I went to speak to Luke Coppini, all I wanted was for people to swim in summer – which is more normal than normal – and to use the fort once a year, for the day of the local- ity. I didn't look into the contracts yet. But when I saw the attitude, I said: something is wrong here. It's either that access to the foreshore is not in the contract at all – which would be illegal – or it's there, and they're breaking it... " What sort of attitude? "Don't get me wrong. When I met Coppini it was all very cordial. But when it came down to my re- quest, he told me that the board had decided not to give the fort to 'outsiders'. That word 'outsid- ers' really hurt me a lot. Manoel Island has always been part of Gzira – Gzira is even named after it: 'Il-Gzira Tal-Isqof'. That's how deep the connection runs. And as a mayor and resident of Gzira, I am suddenly an 'outsider'? So I decid- ed to do my research..." Borg Manche adds that he found more than he expected – i.e., that access to the foreshore was all along meant to be permitted. "There are two parts of the story. One part is for the people to en- joy what they should have enjoyed these past 16 years. The other part is the consortium's obligations to- wards their concession. As Midi itself has stated, it has Malta's her- itage at heart. If that's the case... if it were me, I'd have started with Lazzaretto. It is completely di- lapidated. A 400-year-old hospital, connected to cemeteries and other historic buildings... yet I saw the original plans: they even wanted to build villas on top of the cemeter- ies, where people who died of the plague or cholera were buried..." But surely the project would have been vetted by the Superintend- ence of Cultural Heritage? "I found the ministerial state- ment released by Hon. Zammit Dimech in September 1999. It says that no study had been done Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2016 It cannot be that the rest of us pay our taxes, and these people get away with everything. It isn't fair. And they're making millions, while we have to pay everything, down to the last cent I enjoyed it, to be honest, because it felt like being a real mayor. We should not only look at bulbs in the street, and holes in the pavement. When an issue like this comes along, we have to act NOT FAIR ACTION We can't afford to lose