Let’s draft a plan that seemingly panders to some developers, that would essentially give them exactly what they want, while riding roughshod over other people.

Check.

Let’s try and sell this idea to the people.

Check.

The public backlash is greater than anticipated. Let’s put it on hold and say we are working on a revision.

Check.

Let’s not follow up on that, and just allow the developers to build their high rises anyway, without any real plan for the area as a whole, without really listening to the concerns of citizens…

This is, in short, what seems to have been the timeline of events for the St Julian’s and Pembroke area since 2016, at least from an outsider’s perspective.

The government messed up. There are no ifs or buts.

Back in 2018 it was reported that the Paceville master plan was put on hold and that the Planning Authority had decided to wait for the publication of the new local plan for the area. Now it seems that the local plans will be reviewed through the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED). “We are looking at the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) review,” Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia said in 2021. “Once there is a review, we will see if the local plans can be changed and how they can be changed”.

It has been just one delay after another and, what have we gotten as a result? An area that has been developed, piecemeal, with one high rise application after the next.

Is the cumulative impact being studied?  A fine question that merits an answer.

Don’t get us wrong. There is room for high-rise development in Malta, but this needs to be well planned. Cumulative traffic impacts need to be studied, the sewage infrastructure would need to be upgraded. One would have to ensure that residents are not living in a constant construction area and that these high-rises do not have an ugly effect on the skyline – here’s looking at you Mercury House.

Views from Valletta, Mdina must not be spoiled.

Malta is not Dubai. Malta is not London. Malta is not New York. We need to realise our limitations and we also need to protect what makes Malta the country that it is. Are we doing that?

In addition, one questions why high-rise developments were allowed to sprout up in different areas around the country, instead of keeping it to just a single zone…

Moviment Graffitti had recommended that a master plan for Malta be drawn up. Perhaps it’s time that this idea be seriously debated. We should probably also have a skyline policy. Master plans for locations where intensive development will take place, like Paceville, should be drawn up in consultation with the local councils, the residents of the area, small business owners and developers. There are ways to go about developing Malta, but with all due respect, so far the authorities have failed.