The Planning Authority has lost all credibility for urban planning, the president of the Malta Chamber of Planners Bjorn Bonello said.

Urban planning "has been completely thrown to the dogs" he added in an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Bonello said that a lot of blame is often placed on developers, "but developers are free to propose anything". He believes that it is the responsibility of the PA to function as a referee and make the decisions when dealing with development requests and applications. He remarked that, in his view, urban planning has been "ignored totally in spirit and in letter".

"If I am a developer and I say that I want to construct 20 floors in the middle of Lija, I can say I have the finances to complete the project because I am in a democratic country. It is the Planning Authority's duty to say no," he said, as he remarked that the referee elsewhere is strong while in Malta it is "almost non-existent".

"Personal interests override, because if, for example, you go and say that you want to widen the sidewalk to make it more accessible for wheelchair users, they'll say no, but tables and chairs to give up parking spaces is okay. It all orbits around personal interests... So do we care more for personal interests or the common good?"

Bonello reiterated that the Planning Authority is meant to function as the referee; developers are free to submit their proposals, but it is the PA which has the responsibility of giving the green light or refusing the idea. "The Planning Authority's duty is to curtail greed," Bonello remarked. He emphasised that there is a need for forward planning where everyone operates on a level playing field and plays by the same rulebook. "Is that really the case now? It's question mark. If you look around you, apparently it's not."

Considering the flooding of roads and junctions that has been happening as a result of heavy rain early into autumn, Bonello was asked if Malta's development planning contributes to the issue of flooding during heavy rainfall.

He replied that Malta has a lot of impermeable surfaces, primarily in road construction, and that there is an "almost extreme loss" of permeable places where you would usually have percolation of rainfall. He also mentioned that wells are often built but rarely used, highlighting the lack of utilisation. He remarked that wells seem to only be constructed to "tick the box" rather than out of a genuine appreciation for water as a scarce resource.

"In a few decades water will be as precious as oil... So the only solution, or an improvement to the current solution, is to conserve and explore all practical possibilities to conserve rainwater. We are having drier and drier years, and when it does rain it does so violently," Bonello said. He added that reservoirs and valley systems need to be maintained and taken care of so that there is a natural recharge of the aquifer.

Expanding further on that point, Bonello said that it needs to be understood that water has always been a very scarce resource and that systems need to be put in place, maintained and utilised for the preservation of water. Concerning this, he said that Malta has many valley systems "which have basically been abandoned, and they are a very important resource".

Detailing some of their importance, he said that valley systems can be a very effective pedestrian link between one village and another during dry periods, but that they can also reduce the speed and run-off of storm water when there is a flash flood. He added that valley systems can slow the loss of water towards the sea.

He said that if valley systems are not maintained for this purpose, then it is inevitable that there will be very quick run-offs which build a lot of momentum and cause significant damage when roads are constructed downhill.

"Road construction, workmanship... these all contribute to road flooding. For example, one of the main problems is and has always been the lack of coordination between different stakeholders when constructing roads," Bonello said. He continued that there is Infrastructure Malta almost exclusively dealing with the actual road, but then there are other entities handling services underneath such as gutters, run-offs, water storage and reservoirs.

The Planners' Chamber president said that this often leads to a situation where different people or service providers tamper with the road to implement their services. There are attempts to improve this situation, he said, as "everyone realises that forward planning and data-sharing is key to prevent these situations".

Bonello added that there are also changes in the tendering process intended to improve it to focus on the best value rather than choosing the cheapest option, but remarked that expecting things to change quickly might be "a bit too optimistic". He added that every intervention on a road makes an impact on the water-tightness of the infrastructure, and that there is a situation in Malta where not everything is carried out to a certain standard, meaning that different people adopt different standards.

Speaking more about the issue of impermeable surfaces in Malta, he said that the more such surfaces are created, the more one has to think about how to slow down the momentum that water builds. "We saw this when a lot of roads were constructed in rural areas using concrete," explaining that when it rained, "there was such a lack of areas for the water to go that it would cause damage with phenomenal strength". He explained that, in the past, water would seep into the ground, but this is no longer the case. Now, it can only flow towards lower areas, which inevitably creates an impact downstream. "Flooding is always a concern, like sustainability. When you put them on a scale versus personal interests, usually personal interests overcome these concerns," Bonello said. "The scarcity of water and the impacts of flash storms on our infrastructure has always been a concern since the 1960s."

Bonello said that it all boils down to forward planning, common good and sustainability, "getting a balance between the economy, the social and the environment". He remarked that the situation is very fluid, but that in his opinion, there is no forward planning or vision. "There is a lack of coordination, everyone works on their own thing. We are very lucky sometimes to be a small country, because we can turn certain things around quicker... But unfortunately, everyone has his little empire."

He said that it is a question of personal interest and common good, referring to it as "the eternal fight", and adding that it is not something endemic to Malta, though it is felt more here due to being in a smaller area.

"There's no room for mistakes, because once you lose land and other vital resources, you've granted rights to people who won't easily relinquish them. It is very complex. We need proper forward planning, coordination between the different stakeholders and a strategy that puts common good at the forefront so that everyone can benefit. I suspect that we don't have that here... If you don't maintain anything, in a few years you will lose it," Bonello concluded.