Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/984659
OPINION 24 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 MAY 2018 OK, let me cut right to the chase: just because Eddie Fenech Adami made a mistake back in the 1990s (and Alfred Sant compounded that mistake around 1996), it doesn't follow that we all have to lump the consequences forever. Mistakes can, and should, be rectified where possible: and in this case, the possibility still exists... if only in part. It was, in a nutshell, short- sighted and inconsiderate of successive Maltese governments to negotiate a contract (signed in 2000) ceding Manoel Island and Tigné point to specula- tive developers on a 99-year lease. Not much can be done to reverse the consequences in the case of Tigné... but Manoel Island is another story. Though 18 years have elapsed since the contract was signed, very little has actually been done on site. Fort Manoel has been restored, yes... and in the unlikely event of an expropriation (more about this later) the developers would naturally have to be compen- sated for the expense... but the rest of the island is still as wild, tumble-down and gloriously dilapidated as I remember it in my childhood. Much more beside: it is still GREEN. Remember that mysterious colour that most children now grow up without ever seeing? Well, you can still appreciate it in all its natural splendour while walking along the Gzira seafront. But not for very much longer; so I suggest you make the most of the op- portunity while it lasts. In fact, scratch whatever plans you had for the coming week, and bring your kids down to Gzira instead. Let them admire the last patch of natural greenery in the entire Northwest harbour area, before it is permanently blocked out of view by yet another wave of identical, faceless and instantly forgettable buildings. Meanwhile, to get an idea what those children will soon see while gazing upon the same view: just take a look at the promotional video on the MIDI consortium website. It's a 3D animation of what is actu- ally planned for Manoel Island over the next 10 or so years (produced by the developers themselves, so one can safely assume it highlights the project's most visually appealing aspects). At a glance, most of it seems completely indistinguishable from the urban sprawl on the either side of the bridge. For one thing, the bulk of the develop- ment itself (of which there is far too much anyway: 600 apart- ments, when the original draft plans mentioned only 100) is all bunched up on the Gzira-facing side: so even if roughly half the island remains untouched, it will be invisible from the mainland anyway... as our photomontages illustrate. The most upsetting part, how- ever, is when you get 'chauffeur- driven' (by camera) through what will very soon be the island's 'Main Street'. Today, the stretch of road in question leads you directly towards Fort Ma- noel, past patches of trees and greenery on either side. I'll admit it's a bit shabby and derelict: but it's still a beautiful walk. Wild flowers – asphodel, snapdragon, nasturtium and many more – grow by the roadside; lizards and skinks scurry through the rubble as you walk past. And the sea is visible though the trees... as well as the mast-tops of yachts, the skyline of Ta' Xbiex, etc. I can assure you will not experience anything comparable in any part of Gzira, Sliema, Ta' Xbiex or beyond (unless, you break into the remains of the Empire Stadium across the main road, which now resembles a misplaced corner of the Amazon Jungle). Not even Independence Gardens overlooking Balluta Bay, or the Marina Gardens of Ta' Xbiex (to mention the only two public gardens that actu- ally exist within a radius of five miles): those are pretty, yes... but they're also sanitised, pruned and 'domesticated'. More than 'parks', they're really just glori- fied flowerbeds... with a couple of benches and maybe a kiosk or two for good measure. Manoel Island, on the other hand, is different. Dirty and neglected though the place may still be, it still feels timeless and untouched. Above all, it still re- tains that rare aura of openness, of the kind that all surrounding towns and villages lost decades ago... and with it, their cultural memory of what their own land- scape once looked like. Sorry to get all mushy on you, but that quality (which I concede is difficult to actually describe) is the one thing that has become sorely missing in Malta. We need it, like a honey bee needs nectar, or a newborn baby needs its mother's milk. And we're not getting it. Small wonder people in this country (myself included) have evolved into short-tempered, irritable brutes with no patience at all. We're condemned to living our entire lives walled in by construction from every angle: like prisoners denied even the right to stretch their limbs in fresh air. But back to the video. Let's face it; what is the difference between the 'Main Street' planned for Manoel Island... and any other street, in any town or village, an- ywhere in Malta? Even if we bow our heads to the general idea – and I don't think we should – that 'Manoel Island should be developed': I mean, honestly: is that the best our architects and urban planners could do? It's hideous: far uglier than the typical urban streetscape, in that there is no breathing space at all, of any kind, between the individual blocks. Not even so much as a garden or a hedge to break the urban monotony. Nor even a side street to open up the unbroken lines of adjacent town- houses. Just buildings, buildings and more buildings. And what's more, they all seem designed according to the most utilitar- We're still in time to save Manoel Island Raphael Vassallo You turn a corner into a square that could easily be a carbon copy of the centrepiece of Tigne Point: i.e., expertly designed to block out the view in all directions... thus restricting a panorama that was once enjoyed by everybody, to the lucky few who can afford to buy or rent the new sea-front apartments