Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/734031
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2016 15 on Manoel Island's subterranean heritage, including these cemeter- ies. There is also a network of tun- nels that was once used to trans- port livestock. All the livestock imported into Malta used to come by ship, and be quarantined under- ground on Manoel Island. There are subterranean cattle-sheds, where the animals were housed. There's a whole story there, and no one knows about it. My concern now is that Manoel Island's story is preserved. Nowhere else on Malta has anything like it. I think I am obliged to try and preserve it. In fact I have asked for jurisdic- tion there, so that I'll know what's happening. It's not fair to just give an island away to someone to do whatever he wants with it... This brings us to the crux of the matter. The process whereby Midi was granted a 99-year lease on the island was approved unanimously by both sides of the House. The contract itself was negotiated un- der both Nationalists and (brief- ly) Labour governments. So it seems we have collectively agreed through our elected representa- tives (without ever being directly consulted ourselves) to do exactly what Borg Manche has described: give the island away. Was this a mistake? "I think it was a mistake to grant concessions for both Tigne and Manoel Island to the same con- sortium. In fact, I read that the dumping of excavated material from Tigne was supposed to have been used for land reclamation in Manoel Island. It wasn't: it was dumped at sea, and I am informed that Midi didn't pay anything for it. I urge governments to look into these things. 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 mil- lions, while we have to pay every- thing, down to the last cent..." Speaking of those millions: the government has always consist- ently argued that this kind of land- use for speculative gain is both inevitable and desirable, because 'that's what keeps the economic wheel turning'. This approach overlooks other potential land-use policies. Borg Manche himself has proposed turning Manoel Island into a na- tional park. Is this really feasible in the bigger picture, though? Can Malta really afford to do without the investment generated by these projects, and utilise such poten- tially lucrative open spaces for non-commercial purposes? "Absolutely. 100%. And I think it would a big mistake if they built on Manoel Island too. They're going to ruin the whole place. And there is an argument to revisit the con- cession. The contract is with the government, so there's nothing I can do myself apart from trying to keep up the pressure. But I don't think the original plans for Tigne stipulated the sheer number of buildings that have gone up. An- other thing Zammit Dimech said in that statement was that 30% of Tigne was to be built up, and 22% of Manoel Island. On Manoel Is- land, I don't know where this 22% is going to happen: there is the yacht yard which takes up a big part of it, and the rest is the cem- eteries and other heritage sites. And in Tigne, I am sure they've built more than 30% of the whole area. More than sure. But parlia- ment decided on those lines; not on what is happening today. So we could say that the consortium already developed more than the units it had a permit for. If they've taken more than they should have taken in Tigne, then at least leave Manoel Island for the public..." A similar sentiment was recently expressed by the mayor of Sliema, Anthony Chircop, who demanded access to the foreshore at Tigne. Coupled with expressions of popu- lar support for the Manoel Island protests, we seem to be looking at the beginnings of a knock-on effect. Does Borg Manche expect more cases of civic action in fu- ture? "Yes. Because as I said last time, Malta is small. If you keep taking up the foreshore, and taking from here and there: we will be left with nothing in the end. We're not real- ising this. It's very important. This is not France or Italy, where you can go wherever you like. This is Malta. There is hardly anywhere left to go; we can't afford to lose any more." Interview Lurking behind the recent Manoel Island controversy is an inconvenient truth: Gzira is too congested to afford losing more precious open space to speculative development. Mayor CONRAD BORG MANCHE makes the case for the island's repossession lose any more PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MANGION