The Malta Independent 12 November 2024, Tuesday
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Civil Society Network, NGOs say high-rise development should be suspended

Gabriel Schembri Saturday, 18 June 2016, 10:33 Last update: about 9 years ago

The Civil Society Network, along with a number of NGOs, has called for the suspension of high-rise development projects until a national master plan is drawn up.

The network, echoing what independent MP Marlene Farrugia has suggested, said that it is not against development but any mega-projects such as those planned for the St Julian’s area must be sustainable.

Addressing the media, Architect Rueben Borg, president of Sustainable Environment Malta, said that proper planning needs to take place before such projects are accepted. These include studies on the impact such development would have on the environment, traffic and wind.

The network invited both the Labour Party and Nationalist Party to attend the activity, but no acknowledgment was received.

Before deciding on the specific proposals for high-rise development which are being proposed around Malta, the Government should commission a holistic master plan which assesses the cumulative impacts of such development in matters such as the generation of traffic, duration of construction, shading of other properties, infrastructure, air pollution, wind effect, impact on skyline of world heritage sites, and its impact on the economic value of property and people's quality of life, Mr Borg said.

The organisations called for a temporary cessation on high-rise projects before a national masterplan on such development is carried out. Environmental NGOs have also invited all other interested organisations as well as political parties to support their appeal to the Government.

Apart from Civil Society Network reprsentatives, members of Din l-Art Helwa, Flimken ghall-Ambjent Ahjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Ramblers Association Malta, Qui-si-sana & Tigne' Residents Association, Sustainable Built Environment Malta, Youth for the Environment, Moviment Graffitti and Chamber of Planners took part.

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