The two rather large development permit applications that got the Planning Authority’s seal of approval earlier this week are not, in themselves, as large as the problem as that which they epitomise: the fact that these huge developments are being approved seemingly helter-skelter in an abject lack of any sort of plan.

While the two projects carry their own concerns – the 12-storey SmartCity development’s change of allowed use to real estate, and the sheer size of the 744-unit residential development on Mistra Ridge – the real concern here is that such an approach does us no good at all. In fact, the lack of a holistic plan plays very nicely into the hands of developers, who undoubtedly find it easier to get projects approved one by one in a vacuum rather than having their proposed developments considered within the confines of a national plan.

There had been talk some time ago from the government about a master plan for the Paceville area, an initiative that appears either to have fallen by the wayside or to have been scrapped altogether for reasons best known to those who had spearheaded its formulation.

Moreover, the fact that we cannot seem to be able to come up with a master plan for one area of the island renders the possibility of such a plan for the country a near impossibility. But that is exactly what we need if we are to preserve a little of what is left of this land from being buried under concrete, piece by piece.

Such a plan must not only cover large scale developments but also the coming of the skyscraper to Malta, and here we must do some national soul-searching to determine what we really want to be as a country – an unabated cosmopolitan playground, are we as a nation looking to retain what is left of our character, or possibly even a balance between the two.

There are presently several high-rise and skyscraper developments being planned for the country, the majority of which are spread between the Sliema-Gzira and the Paceville-St George’s Bay areas. 

So far, the high-rise developments that have actually been approved – major planning decisions with inevitable long-term impacts on the urban environment – have been approved in this same piecemeal fashion and without being underpinned by a clear vision or strategy as to where we want to go as a country in this respect.

This lack of a holistic plan could very well result in unpredictable impacts on urban life. Moreover, the construction of such large-scale projects will undoubtedly aggravate traffic problems on the already heavily congested road network in these areas.

What is abundantly clear is that tall building and skyscraper developments simply cannot be considered without a master plan. The concept of a possible moratorium has been floated, and shot down, in the past. 

There is certainly a valid argument to be made for the country, considering its serious spatial limitations and concerns over its creeping urban sprawl, to build vertically as opposed to horizontally.

It is also true that tall buildings can replace dilapidated ones and create the kind of a modern urban skyline so attractive to so many people. It is, however, questionable whether Malta is undergoing the kind of accelerated economic growth, whatever the government and its acolytes might say, to justify the current construction boom.

High-rise districts with appropriate amenities, parking facilities, pedestrian and bus links are also essential for such projects. But, unfortunately, an efficient public transport system, key to successful tall buildings, is still sorely lacking in Malta. The inadequate utility infrastructure – electricity, water and drains – also needs to be upgraded to meet the needs of such structures. 

Very detailed studies certainly need to be carried out on these and other economic and social factors, and a master plan must be developed before proceeding with the approval for such projects.

But such studies are rare. The last exhaustive report along such lines of which we are aware was over 10 years ago, commissioned by the then Malta Environment and Planning Authority to a Fulbright scholar and Chicago-based expert on tall buildings. That report had, for a number of valid reasons, advised that the country should not allow any buildings to exceed 24 storeys. We need more of the same if we are to fully understand what we are doing.

The country simply cannot keep rushing headlong into such projects, no matter how tempting they may be. As a country we need to look very, very carefully before we take this enormous leap that will in so many ways seal the country’s future and could very well lead to our undoing.