Two full years had to pass before the raw material harvested in the November 2005 Census begins to make an impact on Maltese public opinion at large.
The Census Officer, Mr Alfred Camilleri, and his team needed time to process the information gleaned from every household two years ago. It was time well spent.
Two well-researched studies have now seen the light of day. The first volume focuses on population growth, the second on dwellings. The two studies provide comparable information extracted from censuses held in these Islands from 1851 to date.
The emerging picture is as striking as it is remarkable. Even more remarkable, and just as deplorable, is the added fact that the media have not dissected the census findings; much less have they enlightened the Maltese electorate with an in-depth analysis.
The one political party that tried to proceed in respect of this matter, from description to prescription, was Alternattiva Demokratika.
To my knowledge, the only person to sift through the available raw material and highlight the salient facts and figures relating to building development was Professor Joseph Falzon, from the Department of Banking and Finance of the University of Malta. (The Times, 8 November).
Core reality
The core, present-day reality emerging from the latest census is that the number of housing units in the Maltese islands now totals 192,314. Of these, l39,178 (72 per cent) are occupied. 53,136 (28 per cent) are vacant, of which 43,108 are unused, (23 per cent) and the remaining five per cent (or a total of 10,028 units) are partially used as holiday accommodation.
Between 1851 and 2005, Malta’s population increased by the order of 3.3. The total number of dwellings increased by 5.8 times, and the number of vacant dwellings increased by 6.7 times.
Professor Falzon has underlined the fact that, in the time span of the last 155 years, Malta has become three times more densely populated, and six times more densely built up.
The percentage of vacant properties has increased consistently with every census. Between 1851 and 1967, the average number of vacant units per 1,000 population was 52. This increased to 69 by 1985, 94 in l995 and l31 in 2005.
Here is enough raw material for thoroughgoing analysis and debate. The outcome would be invaluable for sound policy-making at government level, and for the guidance of actual and prospective investors.
Questions
Is this increased rate of supply of vacant property sustainable? Are there not more profitable and rewarding ways to use Malta’s limited resources, other than in buildings? And, given the fact that so much capital lies fallow, and so many dwellings are empty and sufficiently costly to be out of the reach of young couples anxious to start a family, isn’t it time to shake the tree for some ripe fruit to provide some form of nourishment to those who are famished?
The unstoppable building craze, at a time when the supply of vacant buildings is well and truly overwhelming, has another ugly aspect. A hydra-headed monster has reared its head. Who is responsible for sounding the alert?
The number of dwellings per square kilometre has risen steadily ever since 1851. At that time, Malta had an average of 103 dwellings per square kilometre. This figure has shot up to 599 in 2005. Professor Falzon estimated that Malta has become six times more densely built-up in the last 155 years, and more than twice as densely built-up since l967.
Is there going to be no fresh country air for our children to breathe, unless Mepa wakes up, or is replaced by some other authority with a sense of purpose and imagination?
On mature reflection, the contours of these problems, as they emerge from the census findings outlined above, are at once distinctly visible and tangible. They produce the sensation of a time bomb ticking under our feet.
The bomb will certainly not be defused by inertia, much less than by yielding to the avarice of speculators, or the hidden hand of a faceless Mafia.
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