I would like to write in connection with the statement released by the Sliema Residents Association to develop the property at Villa Bonici into an old peoples’ home and the grounds in the vicinity into a public garden.

The Sliema Residents Association seems to have forgotten that this is private property and that they cannot make plans about property which is not theirs. I wonder whether the same people would be so altruistic when it would concern the use of their own property.

The clear point about the whole matter is that you cannot treat private property as though it were public. You cannot make plans to develop property which belongs to others as that is a right pertinent to the owner.

The present position of the site located in the middle of urban development gives rights to the owners in respect to its monetary value and its use. These are rights which may not be ignored or by-passed. Some people in their unbridled enthusiasm seem to forget that owners do have rights at law and that these are also protected by the Constitution and the European Court of Human Rights. It is sheer cheek to suggest that you can make plans about another person’s property not only without taking over that property and paying a legitimate and appropriate market price for it, but by not even bothering to consult such owners.

There have been a number of judgements both of our Constitutional Court as well as by the ECHR based in Strasbourg asserting that property may not be taken over except for use for a public purpose, and when the property is taken for a public purpose the market value of such property has to be paid to the owner. This is not only a protection to the owners of these grounds but to all persons having ownership of property in Malta.

I suppose nobody is really suggesting that rights of ownership should be done away with, but the attitude of certain people seems to border on precisely that, and that is precisely what is so wrong in the suggestions being made.



Alfred Gera de Petri

Lija