Sliema, St Julian’s, Pembroke and Gzira, forming part of the tenth electoral district, have seen a massive assault by developers on the right of residents to enjoy their homes in a peaceful and clean environment, independent candidate Arnols Cassola said today.

Time and time again, under successive governments, large scale developers are given free hand to build ever more unsustainable massive projects which impinge blatantly in the rights of residents, Cassola, who is contesting the tenth and eleventh districts, added.

The problem of unsustainable overdevelopment has become a national problem, but it has been magnified to a large extent in districts such as the tenth.

Cassola mentioned a list of issues residents have to face. Noise from building sites at all times of the day, dust and other forms of pollution , damage to surrounding property and to the public infrastructure and services with high rise buildings starting   to  impinge on  the rights of neighbours to use their roofs for solar energy are just some of the examples of the massive problems residents are facing. “It is clear that time and time again, the environment and the rights of ordinary citizens play second fiddle to wealthy developers, like Joseph Portelli, who publicly and openly boast that they finance the main political parties,” Cassola said.

Cassola saluted those local councils, NGOS and residents who have joined together to oppose unsustainable projects in these localities, such as in Pembroke, where the ITS building was given by government for peanuts to Silvio Debono of DB. He noted that while there have been some successes following strong protests, such as the withdrawal of a proposal to  build a landing stage for ferries in Balluta, there have also been major defeats as the spread of massive unsustainable development continues unabated in the Tenth district. 

“It should seem clear to all that despite changes in governments, changes in regulatory authorities and the introduction of new environment authorities, the situation has not improved, rather it has become much worse. Once again it is abundantly clear that the only way for the powerful developers to be kept in check is for people to vote for this. This can be done by voting for independent and third party candidates who have walked the talk in favour of the environment throughout their lives, are not in the pockets of the developers and have the will and the credibility to protect the environment and the rights of residents through concrete and direct action,” Arnold Cassola said.

Cassola stated that his manifesto for the coming general election addresses these issues clearly. “The natural beauty of our country, open public spaces and our historic buildings are being lost. They are being buried and hidden under monsters of 20-30 floors, which are being built without an overall national plan, without any sustainable criteria and without any serious geological studies being undertaken beforehand. We are duty bound to preserve our cultural heritage for future Maltese generations and for humanity, in general.  For these reasons, I am proposing  a two year moratorium on highrises, in order for us to reflect on the mistakes of the past and to plan wisely for the future,” Arnold Cassola said.