That didn’t really last all that long, did it? All of the government pomp and parade about the famed Project Green and this administration’s apparently newfound environmental credentials is set to be rendered null and void already.

This as Mellieha residents – over 500 of them in fact – battle against a tender which the government has opened for the perpetual revisable emphyteusis of an open area of around 5,300 square metres right in the middle of an area known as Mellieha heights.

The open area is currently undeveloped and, even though it does need some attention and care, could certainly make a large green area for the community to enjoy.  That’s the main aim behind the government’s Project Green isn’t it? To create new green areas in urban zones for the community to enjoy.

But alas, it appears that it is a foregone conclusion that this tract of land is set to end up like many other previously untouched tracts of land: consigned to the dustbin of Malta’s natural history and turned into yet more characterless new pigeon-hole developments.

Usually, the excuse for this is that the land belongs to the developer in question and they are free by legal right to do with it as they please with it as long as the planning authorities allow it (and let’s face it, it’s not like they’ve served as being a thorn in any developer’s side on the most part).

In this case however, that excuse holds no water.  This land is government land – or rather, public land. So there is absolutely nothing from stopping the government from turning this land into a viable, green open space for those living in the area to enjoy.

That isn’t going to happen however.  Instead, according to extensive reporting into the topic by The Shift, the Lands Authority has offered the land on a 15-year perpetual revisable emphyteusis, meaning that whoever wins the tender will only have to pay a few hundred thousand euros a year for it, and can then make owners of new buildings on the land have to redeem the ground rent themselves.

The highest bid, according to the same website, is of €380,000 – but the land in question has a market value of €12 million.

The developer who will win this concession stands to make millions in profits. The biggest loser will be the residents, who will no doubt soon after become hostages inside their own homes to the construction industry.

Project Green has scarcely existed for a month, but the government has with this tender alone proven that it has no interest in the environment beyond a few token projects here and there.  In areas where a developer – perhaps a friend of the party – can benefit and fill their pockets, it’s their interest which will still come first, not that of the community.

There is still time to change this. Withdraw the tender, change the plans for this land, and turn it into a green community area, in line with the aims of Project Green.

Failing that though, we can probably argue from now that Project Green is more like Project Greenwashing, and that not much from the status quo is going to change.