Plonk it here, please

Just four weeks ago, a national referendum on spring hunting delivered a very clear and sharp missive to the political class. 

Short of winning by just 1,000 votes, no matter what, 49.6% of the Maltese electorate sent the amazing and resounding message that green matters mattered. 

Minutes after the announcement of the result prime minister Joseph Muscat called a televised press conference and declared hand on heart that the government would now have to listen to the environment lobby and start looking at things differently.  

And no sooner had Muscat declared his new conversion to environmentalism than he was unexpectedly but proudly celebrating the proposed building of a university campus on 90,000 square metres of preciously scarce undeveloped land in Marsaskala.  Known to all as the Outside Development Zone at Zonqor point.

The PM declared that the reason for the development in the South was because ‘we need to invest in the south’ and because no alternatives existed.

There is always a very clear inference that the south is a forgotten and a deprived area and needs investment very badly.  So badly that it does not really matter where. Which is to wonder, if the south is a forgotten and deprived area, who is to blame for that?

For decades now we have been tutored to accept the fact that certain indisputable investment should be accepted as is.

If investment takes place in the south, then it cannot be declared to be harmful but ‘sustainable’, according to Muscat.

The truth is that the development proposed is illegal and should not be contemplated, let alone accepted.

When we are faced or referring to foreign direct investment there cannot be any valid arguments to object to development, according to the government.

That argument was conveniently used by many in the past and is being repeated today.

When in 1998 Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant lost the national election thanks to his nemesis Dom Mintoff, he had reminded the country that the Cottonera waterfront development would lead to a regeneration of this deprived area.

19 years later there is little doubt that the trickle down effect was partially true but there is one important proviso.

The truth is that people who live in abysmal conditions and experience social deprivation do not uplift themselves when an investment takes place. Unless they are the direct recipients of direct help, they will not get out of their rut.

On the contrary, when rich and middle class folk move into an area many of the social misfits are usually pushed underground away from everyone else and everyone’s eyes.

Apart from this, Joseph Muscat may in fact be confusing the deprivations of the inner harbour area and Bugibba with the ones of the south.  

For today these are the areas which are mostly representative of the underclass and are the capital cities for the less fortunate.

Marsaskala is in fact a far cry from being a deprived area.  The people there are relatively well off, middle class and the homes in the area are of rather high quality.

It is also quite fallacious to believe that most people from Marsaskala want this development. Most middle class people generally want to be surrounded by more green and open spaces. And if the sea, calm or tempestuous, is to be seen, they do not want its view obstructed by buildings, even if they are structures meant for learning.

They also want less pressure on their traffic zones and less noisy quarters.

When the University of Malta grew to house over 8,000 students at Tal-Qroqq, the environs around the university that is Msida did not flourish and flower out of control.  Msida remains what it was – a rather ugly suburb.

Indeed the correlation between more students and improving Msida was and is next to nil.

The same line of thinking can be applied to Marsaskala.  Residents in Marsaskala are living rather peacefully, they really would prefer to have no bustling university next to their home.

The true story is that really the only objection to the so-called American University is about its location. Which is a pity, considering that everyone seems to be approving Muscat’s creation of wealth.

Muscat cannot continue ignoring environmental issues, and shoving them out of eyesight.

He cannot use MEPA as a trustworthy rubber stamp and he cannot expect people to fathom his arguments just because he is on a high wave.

Surely he cannot convince by simply plonking three ministers next to the sewage treatment plant at Ta’ Barkat (between Smart City and Zonqor point) and sing the praises and glory of the proposed university.

Surely Leo Brincat as Environment minister must have felt incredibly silly and foolish arguing that this fledgling American university was as important as a sewage treatment plant.  

Everyone seems to have failed to remind him that treating sewage is an obligation under EU law. That the sewage farm he was standing next to, was in fact constructed to deal with the long-standing outflow of raw sewerage into the open sea, conveyed by pipeline to a few hundred metres offshore but making a stinking return towards land when the sea currents were so inclined.

What is clear is that Muscat is taking the environmental lobby for granted.  It is so very true that as things stand the environment movements are fragmented and have still not realised how crucial joint collaboration and action will enable them to realise results.

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I can appreciate that Labour are incensed to see the PN taking a stand against the siting of the proposed American University. They cannot quite understand why the public does not see through them.

It is high time that politicians are reminded of how fickle the electorate is, if, indeed, they need reminding. Electors, when they feel like it, do not really care what the PN did before 2013.

Before the 2013 election, the PN administration wanted to construct a road from Zonqor point to Xgħajra, the foundations to the road were in fact laid but never finalised. If they had been, it would have led to a licence for more development on the site.

At the time, no one raised a finger, a voice or a whimper.

There is also a feeling in Labour that the PN should accept their term in opposition.  

A Labour insider said that they (the PL) were sentenced to 25 years in opposition for corruption, bad governance, violence, thuggery and irreversible bad decisions.

“The Nationalist party was sentenced to 10 years in opposition and they should just sit back and accept the fact that they deserve every minute of their time there. They have no parole for good behaviour and they have no right to request an early release for good behaviour.”

That may be true, but it does not give the Labour government the green light to steamroll their projects. No matter what, many people will naturally flock to the PN in protest against the PL, irrespective of the fact that the PN is no guardian of the environment.  But in times of crisis, we all find refuge in unearthly things. The PL should not underestimate this.