Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Deborah Schembri does not see high-rises as a problem, she told this newsroom.
Two high-rise projects have recently been approved by the Planning Authority, one in Mriehel, and one in Sliema called Townsquare, with other such proposals having been made public.
A poll by The Malta Independent Online recently showed that the majority of people are concerned about such development. In fact, 61% of respondents believe that no such buildings should be approved before a national master plan is in place.
Dr Schembri was asked a number of questions about the number of high-rises proposed around the island.
“Malta has the Strategic Plan for Environment and Development ( SPED), which is the spatial development policy, and indicates the areas where high-rises can be built. Thus it is a national policy, and has been discussed at Parliamentary level,” she said.
“Whatever is done when it comes to such developments must be done within that framework”, she explained. “Before, there were specific places pinpointed where high-rises could be built, the policy was that high-rise construction could occur anywhere on the islands. What we did was leave a few places where high-rise buildings could be developed, and exclude the rest. High-rises were even allowed in Gozo, whereas now you cannot build such developments there”.
“One must understand that we have decreased the extent of the problem, if you can call it that. I don’t see it as a problem”, she said. If one has an apartment (within a high-rise) it cannot be smaller than 150 m2. If that property was not in a high-rise, it could be smaller thus more property would be built in that area”.
The Civil Society Network, along with a number of NGOs, had previously called for the suspension of high-rise development projects until a national master plan is drawn up.
Asked about the lack of such a master plan, Dr Schembri said; “There is nothing like a national master plan, as a master plan is for small areas and cannot be for a whole island. A master plan will tackle things related to infrastructure, roads, etc. and does not say how high one can build. So it has to be for a specific area. The policy for the whole of Malta is there, it’s the SPED. We have it. When you have a master plan taking infrastructure, roads into consideration, that needs to be within a confined space”.
As for the invasive views these high-rises will create, and the possibility that Malta’s skyscape could be destroyed, she said; “whenever there is a major change, the skyline changes. New York did not always have the skyline it has, and it doesn’t mean that it is bad or not desirable, it just means it’s different. You must take everything into consideration, and with Malta being such a small country, with land being so precious, instead of taking up more ODZ land you should build in certain specific areas upwards. The policy takes infrastructure as well as other things others believe are not being considered, into consideration”.