[WATCH] 21 groups call for legal protection of ODZ land

21 NGOs urge public to attend Zonqor protest • Video by Ray Attard

All and outside development zones should be protected by law unless two-thirds of Parliament vote in favour of a specific project, a group of 21 NGOs have suggested.

Addressing a press conference at the Jesuit house of Dar Manwel Magri, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar President Astrid Vella urged the public to attend this Saturday’s national protest against the development of a private university at Zonqor Point.

She hit out at “short-sighted politicians” who look at ODZ land as a “cash-cow” and criticised MEPA for “acting as a facilitator to development, rather than a regulator of it”.

She had harsh words for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, arguing that the only people who couldn’t read through his pre-electoral “conflicting messages” on the environment must have been “blind or in denial”.

Din l-Art Helwa President Simone Mizzi hit out at the “superficial” SPED (Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development) document that will soon be discussed in Parliament.

“According to the document, all projects will be able to be built in ODZ areas if it is not feasible for them to be built on developed land,” Mizzi said, adding that clauses referring to ‘sustainable development’ should be removed from the SPED as “not even the Environment Minister knows what the phrase means”.

“If Muscat truly wants to put his money where his mouth is, he should impose a moratorium on ODZ development until the SPED is re-drafted using clear legal definitions rather than vague terminology,” Mizzi said.

‘Correlation of economic growth with quality of life a fallacy’

Dar Manwel Magri was symbolically chosen as a venue as it was where the committee meetings of the eventually successful Front Kontra l-Golf Kors took place a decade ago.

Noting the significance, Jesuit priest Joseph Cassar decried the simple correlation of economic growth with an enhanced quality of life as a “fallacy”.

“When it is driven to an equation and raised to the level of state doctrine that lays claim to both the present and the nation’s future, then it should be resisted,” Cassar said. “In the national interest, our quality of life must be shielded from an unsustainable form of economic growth.”

‘No university compromise that involves ODZ land’

Referring to Muscat’s statement that he will accept a “compromise” on the siting of the ‘American University of Malta’, Ramblers’ Association President Alex Vella warned that no compromise should involve construction on ODZ land.

“People have grown more environmentally conscious since the 2006 rationalisation of development boundaries,” Vella said. “ODZ isn’t a term that can be twisted at will, but a law that defines certain lands as non-developable. 33% of Malta is already built up. When will it end? If this is truly a government that listens, I hope that it will listen to us.

He criticised economical explanations for the development on ODZ land.

“We can no longer keep hearing about the green economy either,” Vella said. “We refuse to accept the slogan ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ and people can call us stupid all they will.

‘Zonqor university not a real educational investment’

Moviment Graffiti’s Chris Mizzi decried the “privitisation of public land”, warning that the proposed Zonqor development, the extension of the Ghadira Bay hotel and the Mosta shooting range would constitute a “massive grab of public space for the interests and profits of speculators”. 

“Moreover, the private university cannot be considered a real investment in educational development since access will be restricted to a tiny minority of rich families,” Mizzi said. “Educational development is only achieved when there is free and accessible quality education for all- something which the University proposed by Sadeen is the direct opposite.”

Similarly, ADZ Malta Green Youth chairperson Marc’ Andrea Cassar said that the proposed university would serve no practical purpose or benefit for the Maltese or the South.

“This project is of a commercial nature, not an educational one, and should be treated as such,” he said.

‘People who don’t take a stand the greatest environment threat’

Gender Liberation’s Pyt Farrugia compared “environmental abuse” to the abuse of power by dominant social groups over more vulnerable ones.

“It is no different to the abuse of power by men over women, cis-genders over trans-genders, and Maltese nationals over refugees,” Farrugia said. “However, the greatest threat to the environment is not the political class but rather people who don’t take a stand and believe that others will do so instead of them."