Following the article published last week in The Malta Independent on Sunday on the proposed new development zones in Attard, Gharghur and Dingli, this newspaper was inundated with comments and suggestions from various other localities where the new boundaries have created anomalies. I promised that we would cover Mosta, Msida and Naxxar but for reasons of space, we will focus on Qrendi and Mosta this time round with photos of the latter locality giving a clearer picture of some of the sites that have been earmarked for development.

Qrendi

Although a small and still relatively unspoilt village, Qrendi will also be affected by considerable development with a large tract of land (A) to the north east of the village now designated for construction.

However, a tract of land that was previously in the scheme before the 1988 Temporary Development Zones were drawn (circled) has remained outside the development zone with the new tract extending the village to the northwest. Sources who have purchased land in Qrendi in the latter area spoke to this newspaper confirming that the way the proposed area is marked does not make sense. In fact, land that was previously in a white area before the temporary zones were delineated in 1988 has once again been left out.

Speaking to this newspaper, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Rural Affairs and the Environment said that this particular tract of land was not included in the new development zones because there were no applications for this area.

The spokesperson said the government felt that it would not be correct to give up what is currently agricultural land when there is no application to actually develop it, adding that surrounding the village with a ring road was not an absolute necessity in Qrendi’s case.

Mosta

Although Mosta has expanded incredibly in the past two decades, the amount of land allocated for development is quite astonishing. There are no less than 11 tracts of land that have been earmarked as being within the building zone, and some truly beggar belief. The largest by far is Tract A, which will eventually link the housing area known as Tas-Saghjtar with the Technopark. Although this does make architectural sense, it means that one of the last few large areas of unspoilt land in Mosta will be surrendered to construction. Tract B, which lies close to A, actually finishes off the job, creating a densely built area and, eventually, there will be no buffer zone on the south east side with Naxxar.

Tract F proposes to extend the development in the area close to Mount St Joseph, which also includes the sanctioning of a number of illegally built villas in the same area.

Sources who spoke to The Malta Independent on Sunday complained that the views, which had previously been one of the main selling points of their property, will now be gone forever. The photos seen by this paper and which are being published here demonstrate that the land earmarked for development is of considerable scenic value and, if built up, will contribute to urban sprawl in a big way. Other residents who live close to this land (Site F) are resigned to the fact that although only the first two fields in the foreground (see photo) are being developed, the other fields will follow suit sooner or later.

Site D is the area behind the Mosta cemetery, which is admittedly rather built up. However, the pleasant drive and the views of the houses facing Ta Qali will now see a white wall as the last remaining parcels of land are given over to development.

As regards Mosta and the proposed sites C, D and F, the spokesperson said that MEPA felt that these fell squarely within the criteria proposed by Cabinet. Site C (behind the cemetery), is already divided into plots and is surrounded by built up areas on all three sides while Site F includes parts of land that are already built up, so the government felt that this portion could be given up to further development.

When asked if this meant that the villas, which have now been included in the development was illegal sanctioning, the spokesperson explained that this was not the case as these might have been built with valid permits before the Temporary Development Schemes were drawn up in 1988.

“The area behind the Technopark was already earmarked for inclusion in the draft local plan that was published for public consultation. A policy of the draft plan proposed the preparation of a development brief for the site,” the spokesperson said.

General conclusion

The ministry’s spokesperson reiterated that only 10 per cent of the applications from the Local Plan consultation exercise would eventually be included in the final development zone boundaries. MEPA had followed Cabinet criteria to the letter in all cases where it was possible, with very few exceptions as government’s intentions are to “close off” areas in order to prevent further development, the spokesperson added.

“When MEPA applied the criteria, these were applied in a rigorous manner. There were some sites which, although compliant with most criteria were not proposed for inclusion because not all criteria were met. It is the government’s view that, even if not fully compliant with the criteria, these sites should be included and hence the request made by government on some sites, a case in point being a site in Gharghur”.

The spokesperson further explained that the criteria require that only sites for which a request in the local plan was made are to be included.

“There are instances however where sites for which no request was made are being included for reasons related to provision of peripheral road at edge of town, if and where this is considered to be necessary. In other instances, where a request was received for only part of an infill pocket, all the infill pocket was included if it qualified from all the criteria, including that part for which no request was received”.