Environmentalists and developers have been going head-to-head for years,  is clear which side the politicians favour.

Over the past couple of weeks, this newsroom interviewed President of the Malta Developers Association Michael Stivala, and three environmentalists – politician Arnold Cassola, Moviment Graffiti’s Andre Callus and the president of Flimkien Ghal Ambjent, Astrid Vella.

First of all, it must be said that development doesn’t always have to ruin the environment. There are ways they can work hand-in -hand. There are ways one can build that adhere to the characteristics of an area, and could even be ‘green’, having roof gardens, environmentally friendly systems in place, green walls, etc. Walking down the streets of some European towns, one would barely notice 4-5 storey apartment blocks as they just keep with the character of the area, having the same style as the older buildings there. But here in Malta... that is not the case. No, here we have to build shoe boxes. Ugly shoe boxes that provide nothing aestheticallly appealing lined up in a row with varying ‘designs’.

Let’s focus on one particular point brought up during the interviews... aesthetics.

Stivala had said that most of the photos that are uploaded on social media would be buildings in shell form. “Of course, buildings which are unfinished do not look nice, but yes we can improve,” he said. He highlighted one of the main issues as being that today architects do not have much freedom to improve a design because the regulations are so stringent. 

The latter part of this statement was mocked by Cassola. “Makes me laugh, I cannot stand the hypocrisy of these people,” Cassola said. “First developers have the politicians in their pockets, they have the laws tailor-made to suit their interests by these politicians and then they blame the authorities for admitting permits,” he said.

Realistically speaking, developers and architects are botht to blame. First of all, given the way buildings look today, just imagine what we would have if regulations weren’t as ‘stringent’ as they are now? Secondly, regulations should be far more stringent than they are, and they shouldn’t be eased. Clearly just by looking at parts of Malta, one can see just how not stringent policies are.

“It is clear that developers are doing whatever they want,” Callus said. And this is the perception out there. 

What Malta needs is a serious rethink of its planning policies. Because the government has failed to do this, it brings about many questions as to the level of influence developers have over the political class. Think about it logically, is anyone happy witht he way our island looks? The vast majority will answer no. The question then becomes... why on earth haven’t we fixed the problem?

We badly need the introduction of a lobby register. It has been on the cards for a while but has yet to be implemented. That would either help tackle the perception that politicians are in developers’ pockets, or confirm it. Either way, for transparency reasons, it should be put in place.

Malta is over-populated. We cannot build outwards. Building up is the order of today currently. But there are ways one can build up, ways which would not create eyesores, that would create uniformity, that would respect a location’s characteristics. Then... there is our current way... boxes upon boxes, the next one uglier than the last.

Yes this is definitely the Malta our forefathers imagined. Take a look around. Politicians do something, this is on you.