On Sunday January 30, Prime Minister Dr. Robert Abela together with the roads minister Dr. Ian Borg inaugurated the so branded “completion” of the Central Link project in Attard. The Prime Minister told us that this was a ‘flagship project’, so as a ‘flagship project’ it serves as a good measure of the current government’s credentials.
Firstly, one cannot but notice that this project has already been the subject of various inaugurations of supposed completion. Notwithstanding the latest shenanigans, the project is far from being complete. An afterthought tunnel is still being dug up at Mriehel, with ensuing vehicular traffic build-up and delays in travel times. Indeed, this inauguration is a flagship in Government’s piecemeal planning, show over substance, and lavish spending of public funds on pre-election cosmetics.
We heard the Prime Minister's statement that every project undertaken by his government has an environmental dimension. In an attempt to rewrite his government's arrogance and disregard for environmental concerns expressed by so many citizens and civil society, the Prime Minister boasted of planting 950 trees. We are asked to forgive and forget the uprooting of hundreds of trees, amongst which mature specimens of over a century old, representing some of the earliest road landscaping efforts undertaken in Malta. These were trees the uprooting of which could have been avoided had they been incorporated into the road design. Unfortunately, the few trees that were preserved were only incorporated in road design as an afterthought, and only after protestors chained themselves to the trees to raise awareness on the ensuing tree destruction. Other similarly mature trees are dying off slowly as a result of careless trenching which severed their roots, and lack of proper mitigation measures. No amount of sapling planting can ever compensate for the systemic and at times illegal tree destruction that took place along Central Link. Here again, we have a flagship of this Government’s arrogance, atrocious planning, and disregard for the ecology of mature trees.
If you want to know what this Government did inappropriately or improperly or illegally, listen to what they tell us and think the opposite. We were even told that in this ‘flagship project’ historical features were left untouched as interventions were done under the watchful eyes of the Superintendence of Cultural heritage. Yet, we all saw mechanical excavators digging no more than a few centimetres from the Grade 1 scheduled 17th century Wignacourt Aqueduct in Attard, with no hoarding deployed and no archaeological monitors on site. This excavation was ‘stopped’ by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage when reports of the damaging works were filed by concerned citizens who thankfully have much more regard for this Islands' history than the heritage barbarians running Infrastructure Malta under the executive responsibility of minister Ian Borg.
This wanton disregard for Malta's historical heritage was not limited to the Central Link project but was also exhibited during other projects undertaken by Infrastructure Malta. The concreting of the scheduled 19th century British military track along the Victoria Lines in Bingemma, the encroachment into the 17th century St. James Chapel parvis in Luqa, and the threats posed to the medieval church of Santa Duminka in Dingli are just three more examples. The grounds of Santa Duminka in Dingli were only saved after Graffitti activists protested against the senseless construction of a planned road to nowhere, impacting not only the church context but agricultural land and centuries-old Carob Trees. In several other areas agricultural land was bulldozed for road construction before the land was even expropriated in a legitimate manner from its rightful owners. Yes, indeed a flagship of Government’s complete disregard for Malta’s heritage, patrimony and valuable agricultural land.
Moving beyond the flagship Central Link, the nonchalant attitude by government run institutions towards the natural environment and complete disregard towards legislation protecting it, is evident over and over again in numerous projects over these last two legislatures. In Comino, a protected Special Area of Conservation, the Ministry for Gozo decided to dig up a ‘road’ at Blue Lagoon and litter the protected garrigue with the excavated rubble, with all the works carried out without an ERA permit and thus constituting a criminal offence. Notwithstanding having been directed by the Environmental Ombudsman to reverse the works, nothing has been done so far. Similarly, Infrastructure Malta has been apprehended, over and over again, executing environmentally damaging works in other protected areas without an ERA permit. These flagship arrogant government agencies executing illegal works are definitely a perfect reflection of their Ministers, from whom they take executive direction.
Now to add insult to injury, while the European Commission has just published for public consultation a draft Directive aimed at increasing criminal penalties for such offences, our government not only treats the same offences at a lesser degree of gravity simply by imposing out-of-court administrative fines, but also intends to decrease the daily fines applicable for such offences, benefitting only the offender. So much for environment protection being high on this government’s agenda. But then, it is not surprising considering that Robert Abela’s government is the biggest offender against our environment and heritage.
Governance in the field of environmental protection is at its worst ever. Only this month we have heard of yet another ERA CEO resigning. With four different heads in less than six years, ERA is competing with the Malta Police Force in terms of leadership turnover. Ensuring stability in leadership for the country's supposed priorities is evidently not on Robert Abela’s government agenda.
Soon the people will be asked once again to cast their vote and to determine who will be leading the country during the next legislature. The PN is determined to halt this senseless destruction being brought about by governmental institutions and by mediocre environment protection policy. A future PN led government will ensure that such institutions lead by example in full respect of the law. And we shall implement our ambitious environmental programme that has been developed with the input of hundreds of concerned citizens to afford a better environment for all of us, for our children and for future generations.
Robert Cutajar is the PN’s spokesperson on the environment and climate change and also a candidate on the 12th district.