Read any blogs you like, and comment spaces on news websites and the like – the unanimous reaction of the people of Malta at the Planning Authority’s bravado exploit on Thursday when in one and the same day it approved two monster applications (Mriehel and Townsquare) is a massive negative reaction.

One may call it the Manhattan-isation of Malta (or Hong Kong, Singapore, Canary Wharf). The precedents were there, however – the Hilton Tower was the first but was never to remain alone. Then came Penderplace, which is not as high. Then Metropolis in Gzira which never got off the ground – or rather which remained a huge hole. Then the Mistra Village monster development which got aborted.

One might add all the projects which have changed Tigne from a derelict army barracks to all the Midi towers and the Fort Cambridge development.

In short, the trend line to go up has been there all along and for quite some time.

But to have this almost simultaneous approval of four huge towers at Mriehel, 15, 17, 19 and 14 storeys high, and a 38-storey tower on top of the Union Club in Sliema was too much to absorb. Hence the unanimous disapproval.

Much has been made of the fact that the four Mriehel towers will most probably impede the direct vision of Mdina from Valletta. A perhaps better argument which should have been made and does not seem it was is that, as anyone can see, the four towers are almost in the flight path towards MIA.

As for Sliema, the battle has long been lost. Tigne itself has faced the cementification of the Midi project and then the Fort Cambridge highrise. One must remember, in this regard, that it is because of Fort Cambridge that we have the euro in our pockets.

To an independent observer, the economics and business plan for such massification in Tigne do not make sense. One must consider the over-all cumulative impact of all this building. The PA, and before it Mepa, considered every application on its own without considering the cumulative impact. We can now see this neglect has made Sliema what it is, and how different it is from the Sliema of the 1950s and of the 1920s.

It is not just the case of Sliema. The renowned photographer Rene Rossignaud recently compared the St George’s Bay of his childhood with the enormous masses of cement one sees now.

In today’s issue the PN member on the board of the Planning Authority rues the Mepa demerger. Maybe that is true. Perhaps however the rot had set much earlier than that. Mepa, as said, did not consider the cumulative impact of all the applications. And sustainability does not seem to have ever been factored in.

Even as it is, Tigne is hardly sustainable, with just one lane leading from Qui-si-Sana to Sliema Ferries, and when not all the Fort Cambridge and Tigne Point apartments are in use. Now to this one must add 159 more apartments, 4,700 square metres of office space, 10,000 square metres of retail space and 748 parking spaces. Did anyone mention the cumulative effect and the sustainability of all this in the decisive meeting?

The judgment on Mriehel is far more nuanced, at least as seen from this point of view. Mriehel began as an industrial estate, now almost completely derelict, which spawned a disorganized sub-estate next to it. Some years ago the fundamental decision seems to have been taken to change this area into a high-class area of financial services.

No real consultation was held and no proper plan laid down. Then, gradually, we started to see office blocks sprouting along the Mriehel Bypass and now we get these four towers.

It was pointed out that the proposed four towers will not have enough parking provision for the people to be employed in the towers. The area lacks many services, such as decent coffee shops or restaurants. No buses ply on the bypass.

To get an idea where all this may one day end up one should go to Smart City and see how the bright plan of the 2000s has now become. The MTA people and later the ITS people will find out when they get moved there – no real road connections, no decent services. And that was supposed to be government-led and super-planned. Whereas Mriehel is being left open to private enterprise, it seems.