Our front page story yesterday, exposing how the fines for illegal cranes are lower than those for littering, shows how little importance we give to the environment we live in and the country’ general lack of adequate rules and enforcement.

Not only has this country become covered with tower cranes and other construction machinery, but the authorities impose petty fines for those who break the law with impunity and operate such machinery without the necessary permits.

The fine for depositing a crane or other heavy machinery in a street without a permit is €46.59. If a police officer catches you throwing a cigarette butt to the ground you get fined €50.

Almost 200 fines were issued in 2016, which shows these abuses are not at all uncommon. But as the mayors of four localities who are greatly affected by construction works pointed out, the fines are too low, and contractors who make hundreds of thousands, in some cases millions, every year, are hardly deterred by such measly amounts.

All this, in our opinion, is part of the general attitude of indifference by those in power when it comes to construction and the destruction of what’s left of our natural environment.

We have seen this in the recent case of the destruction of the Ballut trees in Lija, which have been sacrificed for the road to be widened.

We have seen it in the case of high rise towers, which have been approved despite the objections and concerns raised by residents and NGOs.

We see it every week with the continuation of demolition and excavations works, kicking up huge clouds of dust, despite the supposed ‘summer break’ announced by the Planning Authority a few weeks ago.

We see it with the constant onslaught against quant townhouses, which are being pulled down to make way for ugly blocks of flats. And with the stream of applications for development on ODZ land that get approved by the PA board.

Most of all we see it through the never ending stream of complaints, by locals and foreigners alike, about how Malta has become one big construction site. Complaints that are falling on deaf ears, it seems.

People are miserable about the situation and feel that this country cannot possibly take any more construction. They feel that the authorities, through planning policies, cause unnecessary pain to honest home owners but favour the big construction players. Make hay while the sun shines indeed.

It seems that none of these numerous policies are safeguarding our environment and our health. Every single empty plot of land is being turned into some six-storey apartment building, every remaining tree is being chopped down and practically all our streets have been ruined by some unsightly block of flats.

It seems that we are hell bent on turning the country into one modern concrete jungle, all in the name of ‘progress’ and ‘the economy.’

Just yesterday the Planning Authority approved two projects – a fuel station and a residence for elderly people – both on virgin ODZ land. In the latter case the developers could have used land within the development scheme but, for their own reasons, did not. The PA decided the increase the planning gain in both cases to €50,000, but that money is not going to help get the countryside we lost back, is it?