The Commissioner for Environment and Planning within the Ombudsman’s Office yesterday came up with some very relevant proposals concerning planning and mass transport.

One of the most pertinent proposals is that the Environment and Resources Authority should take over responsibility of ODZ land from the Planning Authority. In his opinion on the State of the Environment report, Commissioner Alan Saliba argues that it no longer makes sense that the authority responsible for planning decides on ODZ proposals.

He recommended that ODZ should be protected and hence ERA should take this role after it becomes well equipped for this eventuality.

“It is illogical that for certain ODZ proposals the ERA objects and the Planning Authority approves,” the commissioner said.

He is absolutely right. The MEPA demerger into a Planning Authority and the Environment and Resources Authority was done in good spirit but the split has not really worked out as it should. In reality, the PA still wields all the power and it is too often that the recommendations and appeals put forward by the ERA are ignored by the PA. In essence, ERA is a toothless entity when it comes to environmental safeguarding – especially when the environment is being threatened by development.

The commissioner also hints that ERA still lacks resources and, in fact says that it should take up responsibility for ODZ only once it is well equipped for the task. In our view this has to happen now, before any more time and previous virgin land is lost. We cannot have a repetition of the Zonqor Point saga where, despite all the objections, a prime piece of agricultural land is given away, on the cheap, for development.

The second proposal by the commissioner is related to the construction industry which, he says needs micro planning. He speaks about the need for a master plan for each area – or even for each block surrounded by four roads. While this would be easier said than done with the resources currently at hand, it would lead to a more efficient use of land, improve aesthetics and provide more space roof for solar panels – all of which are greatly needed.

Another important proposal is related to traffic congestion and mass transport – an issue that is not only environmental but also has great implications on the economy of the country. This problem, the commissioner says, requires an aggressive and innovative solution. 

There is an immediate need for a mass transportation system. “Maybe one day we will start giving open spaces back to citizens who would like to walk, ride a bicycle or practice sport while breathing clean air and enjoying the environment.”

There is much work to be done and postponing further is not an option, the commissioner writes.

This, of course, jars greatly with what Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told journalists during a Budget Day informal briefing, when he said that the mass transport project would only start once the seven-year €700 million roads pledge is completed. We are only one year into that pledge, which means that there are at least another six years to go before we move towards a mass transport system.

The government’s priority for now is to keep widening roads and building new ones – catering for an every growing stock of vehicles on the road, rather than seeing how to start reducing the number of cars we use and the strain they put on our infrastructure, not to mention also the effect that they have on our health and environment.