One can think of so many ways in which life has improved, but the free and simple things seem to be gradually slipping away.

I live in a village by the sea, flanked by valleys at one end, cliffs and an expanse of flat land at the other. At weekends in wintertime, our kids head off to the park on the cliffs, where there are stretches of grassland dotted with trees. When they are in search of adventure, they head for the valley, exploring new paths and games. Summertime is the time when they make the most of the beach – mornings are spent toning their muscles at the large pool at one end of the bay and afternoons in search of tiny sea creatures on the long rocky shore.

Alas, this is a picture of my generation’s childhood in Birzebugga and not, as I had always dreamed it would be, that of my children. A relic of colonial Malta, Hal Far was a stretch of green where families picnicked and enjoyed the fresh air on Sundays. It was where children and adults found space for a friendly football match. The beach was one long adventure, with a rocky part, the small sandy patch and the water polo pool, where so many youngsters could take part in swimming or water polo sessions in the long hot summer days.

This has all been transformed in the span of 20 short years. At Hal Far, hardly one decent patch of grass has been left unexploited; there was space for an industrial zone, a large yard for containers, a tent village for immigrants and a concrete plant. The physical features of the seashore were depleted when, one summer night, large amounts of sand were poured onto the entire coast from the Wied il-Buni end to the other end at San Gorg. The once rocky beaches and pebbled seabed was covered with sand. The residents, as very often happens, felt invisible as not one official explanation was given, let alone was an environmental impact assessment carried out. The view was transformed into something out of a robot’s dream sketchbook – the cranes dominated the bay and gradually increased in number and in size, encroaching around the coast. No sound barriers were planned and nothing to protect the bay from spillage was envisaged. The beautiful Delimara peninsula was then marred with a large scar that was to become the power station, making the transformation complete and so even the air we breathed would be changed.

What and who has benefited from this ‘progress’? It is an understatement to say that that private investment is encouraged by the authorities: the Freeport can take on a large bite of land and transform the whole bay and yet contribute only once to my knowledge (the Wied il-Buni promenade was sponsored by the Freeport). Enemalta can emit any kind of fumes, particles and smells, placing an entire village in peril, and yet not give even the slightest extra service or benefit to the locals.

The restaurants and other establishments around the bay are protected by an invisible hand – if you happen to park your car in your garage drive way and it blocks the pavement in a quiet residential area, then you are justly booked by a diligent warden. If you are a hard-working private investor and you block a main thoroughfare in the village core, then everyone suddenly thinks we can bend the rules a bit. The administrator (and I purposely use this term as I, like many, can no longer understand who decides on what kind of projects are most beneficial to the community) invested in expensive new paving for the church parvis on the eve of the 2008 election, yet it misfired as the wide level space was too much of a temptation for young skate boarders and in order to stop them from damaging the new granite slabs, a tiny skating park was quickly assembled on the beach before election day.

Of course, there was the investment in the promenade, yet we would not want to pamper the residents of Birzebbuga… so when it came to a more social commitment, which investment in the rehabilitation of the water polo club would have required, then no – the water polo side of the bay, with a proper pool, club and food outlet, would trigger too much competition and might dent the profits of other establishments around the bay. Similarly, we wouldn’t want to invest in a proper football ground with a club house, otherwise young people and their parents might decide to spend their time and money away from the promenade and its outlets.

What is stopping the authorities from investing in amenities that give youngsters a shot at doing something beneficial for themselves? What is the administration doing to make sure that concessions are paid for? How much direct investment is the central government and the local council reserving for socially sound ventures? And why is our locality lost in a no man’s land, where central and local government seem to live on separate planets?

The residents of Birzebbuga can only conclude that the local council and the central government lack the social commitment necessary to invest in facilities or focal points where young people can go, especially the ones who are constantly unsupervised and lacking adult guidance. Then we all complain about the behaviour of teenagers on the beach and the acts of vandalism. I strongly believe that providing youngsters with the right kind of recreation would lead to helping them grow healthily and safely, but if the only enticement around is meant to exploit them and their money, then what do you expect? The only institutions that seem to have really invested in our youngsters are the ones with a social conscience, ones that are made up of volunteers and are non-profit making, ones that seem to be run with very little financial support from government institutions (central and local). These include entities such as the sailing club, football, water polo and other sports clubs, ZAK (Zghazagh Azzjoni Kattolika, Birzebbuga) and the Society of Christian Doctrine (Museum) that is actually in the process of building a large and much needed meeting place for our boys.

What have we lost? Of course, we have calm, clean air, a clean beach, a lovely view. We have lost peace of mind – constantly fearful of new threats to our environment from the many possible sources: the power station expansion, a waste incinerator, larger ships entering the bay – in other words, anything that nobody wants to have around their home. We have lost the green at Hal Far, two football grounds where the Freeport Corporation now stands, and the water polo pool.

While in the rest of the island, every village was doing everything possible to make sure that there was a proper football ground, we lost the ones we had. While other seaside towns in the north were modernising their water polo pitches, we lost ours to the development in the bay. Yes, we have paid a steep price and, really, we have now lost hope that any of this shambles will somehow be restored.

You would really have to be an eternal optimist to hope that the funds paid by the Freeport following the Mepa ruling, will be used wisely by the local council in a way that benefits the residents for once – and not the establishments or the industries that happen to be situated in Birzebbuga.

Jane Tabone

BIRZEBBUGA