Prospective PN leadership candidate Alex Borg offered no guarantees on whether Outside Development Zones and Urban Conservation Areas would increase, decrease, or remain the same should he eventually lead the country, choosing instead to say that these must be expert-guided discussions with decisions then being taken unanimously in Parliament.

Borg was asked about his perceived closeness to the construction lobby during an interview with The Malta Independent.  Asked how close he is to the sector, Borg replied that he is "friends with everyone but in the pockets of no one."

"I was never a person who is divisive or who excludes one or the other, so I speak to NGOs, with business people, with speculators, youths, elderly, social partners, because that's the role of a politician," he said.  He said that meeting everyone is how one grows and matures to become a better politician. 

"When we speak about the business sector - yes I'm friends with everyone but I never was and never will be in anyone's pocket because I always have to have independence that my thinking is my own and nobody else's," he said.

Borg was caught in the crosshairs of controversy over a proposed development at Fort Chambray in Gozo, particularly after he was found to have breached ethics by the Standards Commissioner over comments deemed to be misleading on the project.

But Borg defended himself on the matter, saying that the land transfer from one concessionaire to another was via a unanimous agreement between both the PN and the PL.

"The PL wanted to mount a campaign of character assassination on me, break my reputation, so that it can try to diminish me because we had good results in Gozo, and it couldn't stand for that.  So it wanted to continue breaking the political character of Alex Borg," he said.

"But I can assure you that I will keep looking forward to working more and continuing to be effective - to find, even in matters like Chambray, a balance between our national heritage and progress so the country can keep moving forward," he said.

When speaking about his beliefs on development, Borg has used the term "sustainable progress", particularly within the context of him saying that Malta's local plans, which have gone largely untouched since 2006, must be revised.

"When I say the local plans would be revised, it is because they are not in sync with the realities and needs of the country today," he said when asked to define what he believes in this regard. 

He noted that the local plans were last revised in 2006, and said that even though the PL government promised to revise them in 2016, it instead created standalone policies "which created a lot of uncertainty."

"Some were good and effective; others were impractical, because whenever they ended up before the Appeals Court they were shut down, creating economic instability," he said of these policies.

"When I say that they should be revised, I don't want to see regression - I want everyone to have their minds at rest that they can work with the PN; but they can work within a sustainable ecosystem, where we amalgamate more open spaces in our country," he said.

He said that every town and village in Malta and Gozo has its own identity and characteristics that need to be addressed in a specific manner.

"We know that the realities in Sliema and St Julian's are not the same as in Mgarr or Rabat - so every locality, through this revision, needs to have its realities addressed with a set standard of where we'd like development in that locality to go towards," he said.

He also said that policies such as the Skyline Policy, the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), and the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) should also be revised to address today's realities.

But asked whether under his definition of "sustainable progress" what is ODZ land today would remain ODZ, Borg did not commit to anything.

He said that any decision on ODZ land is one which Parliament needs to make.

"I believe that right now I cannot commit to a yes or no.  There has to be a discussion with experts who say what the real situation out there is, and then we will take a decision. You cannot generically say that ODZ in the country will be kept as it is, because in every locality there are different exigencies and needs and characters," he said.

"We need a discussion in Parliament to see what we are going to do with ODZ: are we going to increase it, decrease it?  On a Skyline Policy: where are we going to allow skyscrapers, where are we going to create a balance in the buildings we build? On UCA: Should it remain the size it is in toto? Or should it get bigger or smaller?," he continued.

He said that this is something on which there has to be a unanimous agreement in Parliament, because a re-engineering of the planning process will take years and it could be both a PL and a PN government which has to deal with it - and therefore there should be unanimity so any government knows where development is going. 

The first part of this interview was published in yesterday's edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Clarification statement

In a statement to share a clarification, a spokesperson for Borg said that the article had misrepresented Borg’s environmental stance particularly on ODZ and UCA.

“Alex Borg’s position is rooted in a firm belief that environmental protection is not a secondary issue, but a national priority and an ethical responsibility,” the statement read.

“We cannot keep balancing development against the environment as if they are two sides of a negotiation. The environment is not a cost; it is our shared inheritance,” Borg was quoted as saying.

“This means that decisions concerning land use, development boundaries, and conservation must be based on principled sustainability — not on convenience or short-term interests. While frameworks such as ODZ and UCA may be reviewed to ensure they remain effective and consistent, the commitment to protect open spaces, natural habitats, and heritage areas is unequivocal,” the statement continued.

“Alex Borg is advocating for bolder environmental policies, including a stronger shift towards renewable energy, greener towns and villages, and a better quality of life. This vision does not weaken protection frameworks — it strengthens them by calling for higher standards, smarter planning, and a renewed focus on the common good over speculative interests,” it said.

“His message is clear: environmental protection means saying yes to a better quality of life. Any suggestion to the contrary misrepresents both the spirit and the substance of his position,” it concluded.