The debate on the proposed extensions to the development zones continued on Monday evening and yesterday morning with Labour MP Roderick Galea in possession.

Dr Galdes, who started speaking on Monday morning, said everyone in Malta was against this exercise except the minister and some contractors. He insisted that Labour would vote against the motion on development zones in committee.

He said the free vote given to the Malta Labour Party MPs was not a gimmick and encouraged the Nationalist Party to be courageous and grant a free vote to its MPs as well. He said that Nationalist MPs like Joe Falzon, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Joe Cassar were against the extension of the boundaries. He asked why Mr Cassar did not attend the national march against rationalisation held last Thursday.

He criticised Minister Pullicino for becoming a developers’ minister and not an minister for the environment.

Mr Galdes said the government was making a lot of u-turns. He said that after 18 years of doing nothing the government wanted to do everything in six weeks. He said that he had nothing against developers who were an important sector of society, yet any injustices should be properly addressed.

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando

Mr Pullicino Orlando said the PN expected sincere criticism because of the sensitivity of the issue given that 10 square kilometres were proposed and only 1.34 square kilometres were included. He condemned the MLP for criticising the scheme in order to gain popularity. The Nationalist MP that the only thing that should be criticised in the process was the 18-year waiting time.

“Mr Galdes,” Mr Pullicino Orlando said, “tries to be environment’s and developers’ knight in shining armour at the same time.”

Mr Pullicino Orlando said that MLPs free vote was a gimmick as he always feels free to vote as he wishes to because before being a representative of the PN, he is the representative of the Maltese people. He said that MLP’s MPs are never free to vote as they wish since those who do are marginalised by the party.

Mr Pullicino Orlando concluded by saying that the government “is taking the bull by the horns”.

Evarist Bartolo

Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said the lack of economic activity prompts people to invest more in construction, but in the end the speculative bubble tied to this sector is bound to burst. Mr Bartolo recounted an episode told to him by a Nationalist MP. Someone offered Lm10,000 for ODZ land. The owner asked how come he was offered such a sum for land he had bought for Lm3,000 and which is worthless since it was outside the development zone. The land was sold for that sum and subsequently was included in the rationalisation scheme which then increased the value to Lm250,000. Mr Bartolo alleged that someone had insiders’ information and used it for speculative purposes. He asked who had decided which zones were to be included.

Minister Pullicino called “a point of order” saying that MEPA chose the land according to the criteria given by cabinet and that since Mr Bartolo enjoyed parliamentary immunity, he should substantiate his allegations and mention the name of the MP or else stop mudslinging the process. Mr Bartolo told the minister to investigate his backbenchers.

Mr Bartolo concluded that the political and decision making process favour the strong speculator instead of promoting public health, thus confirming the internal PN report that had stated that the party was alienating its middle class supporters.

Joe Cassar

Joe Cassar said he attended and represented the PN on the 10 June march because it was in favour of the environment while he did not attend the 20 June one because it was against Minister George Pullicino. He said the government acted on the basis of four principles: justice, equality, the common good and social considerations. Quoting from the unanimously approved minutes of the sixth meeting of the committee on development planning, he said that MLP did not want to reduce the areas but actually increase them. He asked whether attending a couple of marches made the MLP an environmentally conscious party while at the same time it was in favour of increasing the boundaries.

Joe Debono Grech

Mr Debono Grech said the younger MPs do not remember how the land for the PN headquarters was acquired.

He said people in the 60s had to pay high property prices and that the MLP government of the 70s and 80s succeeded in providing affordable housing for the working class. These measures prompted the Church to build its own estates like the one in Blata l-Bajda.

He reminded MPs that the PN had its own shady dealings with party dissidents such as Josie Muscat and John Dalli and he also mentioned the circumstances which led to Borg Olivier’s removal as party leader.

Mr Debono Grech attacked the PN for acting hastily just because the next election will be held in two years’ time.

He asked if cabinet has ever consulted the PN parliamentary group on this issue, adding that the MLP parliamentary group had met 17 times.