Land reclamation or land grab?
I listened with interest to what the PM had to say about land reclamation on Bondi+ tonight. His government is calling for an expression of interest, but instead of specifying where the land reclamation is to be allowed, it will specify where it is NOT allowed, leaving the rest open.
Lou pointed out that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority has commissioned studies into the feasibility of land reclamation and found that it is completely unfeasible.
The prime minister’s response was that “with all due respect to MEPA”, land reclamation is not “in their remit” and MEPA is there to say where you can build and where you can’t.
Astonishing.
And then he was contemptuously dismissive about the fuss made because a ‘gremxul’ might be killed by land reclamation. And this man was voted in by many prominent environmentalists, or should that be pseuds, including the deputy chair of Din L-Art Helwa, Lucio Mule Stagno.
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Most people who have never looked underwater will have no idea what damage land reclamation can do to the flora and fauna in the area. But who cares about the thousands of people who benefit from Malta’s diving industry for example, as long as someone can make millions off land reclamation who cares if some lizard or lizard fish dies in the process. The shortsightedness is beyond belief.
If Gibraltar could reclaim land for an airport runway, I am sure Emperor Joseph can do much better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ5Wo5CteEA
The rubber mouth with elastic morals and loopy reasoning. Land reclamation is not withn MEPA’s remit because it involves the sea, not existing land. And lizards live in the sea too.
He must have had a very sheltered childhood.
Even Simone Mizzi joined the club now – in my opinion that was the biigest surprise / shock.
I was not shocked by Lou Bondi’s acceptance since it might be the price he had to pay to keep Where’s Everybody programmes on PBS. DJ Gianni and Andrea Cassar are irrelevant and the latter proved to be without any principles way back once she moved to Super One.
Why? Her deputy voted PL and boasted about it.
Are the Chinese interested in land reclamation as well?
Yes.
MEPA is the Environment and Planning Authority and no longer just the Planning Authority.
It is not there to say where you can build or not. It is also the state agency/authority which ensures that environmental rules are implemented.
And, with all due respect, Mr Prime Minister also appears to be forgetting that there are a number of EU rules on the issue and that there can be substantial fines when these are not respected. He’s as arrogant as he always was but now he also has power.
Where will all this material for reclaimed land come from if construction and demolition material is contaminated, and we don’t have anywhere near enough anyway?
It’s why Leo’s not keen on reducing waste generation. As for contamination, we’re the gremxul.
The problem Muscat has with MEPA is the problem he has with autonomous authority which will check his excess.
What we have is an individual who cannot design around constraints. The sign of an impoverished spirit. Muscat’s the quintessential 90’s product, stuck in material expression, rational function reduced to nostalgic form.
He can’t see beyond that which exists, let alone manage abstraction independently of his personal experience.
Efficiency means nothing unless it carries manifest images hinting at its opposite, waste.
The replica banker’s lamp said it all, his change means more of the older same. Expect taxes to be delegitimised next.
Financial feasibility of land reclamation?
Isn’t financial feasibility the sort of field of expertise of the China Communications and Construction Company?
Have they signed another contract to provide a feasibility study on land reclamation worth Euro 4 million free of charge yet?
Robert Musumeci’s tone and influence were most evident in the PM’s words regarding anything to do with developers’ rights etc on Bondi+ tonight.
Is this Labour’s idea of having closer ties to Europe ? Or North Korea…?
Please note that land reclamation does not mean artificial islands only, it may also mean peninsulas.
So instead of dumping debris in Maghtab or in some disused quarry, trucks will dump their goods at Qalet Marku or right in front of Xaghjra.
The sea is in MEPA’s remit and if it’s not who’s in charge?
In the past who gave permits to dump debris at sea?
I thought the Dutch were the world experts in land reclamation, not the Chinese.
Well, sorry, even of it were not within their remit, the fact that MEPA COMMISSIONED a feasibility study means that and expert – who can say where to relcaim or where you can’t – was consulted.
Either way, quite a cheek on this one.
If land reclamation is to be used to have more open spaces for the Maltese to enjoy – yes, why not. If land reclamation is just an excuse to build more and more apartments – then NO.
In this case, land reclamation will be the result of more and more apartments. Excavated material, as he’s been led to believe and so convenient when electoral promises are made, will be the prime source.
A fallacy when more efficient, indeed faster and cleaner methods can be employed. Given that he’s made his promises, the criteria are the wrong way round. What he’ll do is to subsidise ‘developers’.
Now, if instead of coming up with a bridge spanning over two kilometers, (the brief, it seems, is to avoid Comino), why didn’t he commission a simple calculation what volumes a tunnel can provide?
As for the bridge, one major span can never be more economically feasible than two smaller ones, separated by Comino itself.
It’s why the bridge was shelved. It’s also interesting to note that nowehere does Labour mention the tunnels planned for water catchment.
This one, open public space, was the result of the metro.
http://poipukapili33.com/blog/?p=710
Trust Muscat to get it wrong.
Meta smajtu jghid li “issa jkun hemm xi hadd jipprotesta ghax ha noqtlu xi gremxula” kelli aptit nidhol minn got-TV u nispjegalu l-hsara li tista’ taghmel land reclamation fi gzira zghira bhal taghna.
Huwa immaginabbli li wiehed jahseb biex jibni fuq il-bahar, bil-konsegwenzi disatruzi kollha li dan jista’ jgib ghall-flora u fauna. Wiehed ma jridx jinsa li ghandna hafna proprjeta’ li ma tintuzax, madwar 77,000 post skond l-ahhar stharrig.
@ “issa jkun hemm xi hadd jipprotesta ghax ha noqtlu xi gremxula”.
Arroganti, insensittiv u fuq kollox INJORANT (fit-tmexxija ta’ pajjiz).
L-aqwa li ghandek Gvern li Jisimghek!
Just keep reclaiming land all the way to Gozo so there is no need for a bridge or tunnel.
If some wiseacre thought out this idea 40 years ago then all that illegally dumped rubble and broken tiles on the Xghajra coast from a zillion bathroom renovations could been put to good use as fill.