Against Zonqor but not on your side

In 2006 I got a phone call from George Pullicino’s sidekick, Ray Bezzina – sidekick is a kind word for a man who served as Pullicino’s janissary. Bezzina suggested that I meet with Pullicino over dinner. He had something important to talk about.  

Pullicino was then responsible for the planning authority and was about to embark on one of his greatest achievements.  

That achievement was tantamount to screwing up Malta’s countryside ever more.

I had not spoken to Pullicino since 2003, when we had fallen out over a hundred and one things.  

The meeting was planned for 9.30pm at a restaurant over Ryan’s pub. As usual he arrived an hour late. George was infamously late for every meeting, never on time.

As we never failed to do, we entered into the usual chitchats and why this and not that, and then he came to the point of the whole meeting.
The point was all about the outside development zones that he would be introducing and the need to address the big mess in the development boundaries.   

Pullicino was not doing this without the blessing of his Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi.

George is not a stupid guy, or I guess I was not at all smart. In fact I was dumb and naive to believe his intentions were good.

That weekend in fact I wrote an editorial that surmised his thinking and sort of welcomed the changes that would happen.  
The thinking behind the idea was that the new outside development zones would clean the big mess that had been created. There would be order in the land.

No sooner had I written this than it transpired that the whole exercise was an attempt to redraw new areas and accommodate the pressure at the doorstep of the government to extend building zones for speculators of real estate. It would lead to new development which was intrinsically illogical and serving one purpose: Maltese contractors were dying to build more and more, and the government would be accommodating them, as far as it could.

And of course like the Labour government today, the Nationalists then believed that building and speculation would create more wealth. You know, the trickledown effect.

And of course, they believed that they would make more of their core vote happy. Lucre is the word. Very much like or in the same way Labour is thinking today.

In truth it makes contractors, patriarchs of tax evasion, far, far wealthier, and their bank accounts fat, while the salaried worker makes do with the gleanings of the teeth.

The outcry to the outside development zones was incredibly loud and noisy. There was anger on the streets. One poster held high in the protest read, Vote George, get Lorry. It was held high by Claire Bonello, today a Sunday Times columnist, and it got the late Joe Said in trouble in court for repeating it.

George Pullicino is not a Lorry Sant when it comes to vindictiveness and corruption, but his decisions definitely had the same devastating effect in the destruction it wrought on our countryside and land.

The NGOs came together and opposed the ODZ extension. And guess what, the ODZ extension went ahead. Oh yes, the PN does ignore opinion when it feels like. Their hard core supporters, you see, clap the likes of Austin Gatt, and only last week, Giovanna Debono. On the new ODZ, no one on the government benches had the sense, or decency, to say no. The party, you see, gives them good earnings.

The environment was not some great cuddly bear for the PN.

It was not and has never been.

The development in the last 25 years was three times infinitely worse than what had happened in the previous 25 years.  
And political patronage was still indecently evident.

Which does not excuse Joseph Muscat’s relentless copycat religion that wealth can only be created by destroying this island and making Malta look like a mini-Dubai. If Muscat succeeds in that, he will have ruined Malta irreversibly. The emirate of Dubai is a small country, but nowhere near as small as Malta – Dubai can accommodate 13 areas the size of Malta easily.

There are of course countless examples which prove that unbridled building can lead to ruin, not wealth.

Just because construction magnates blossom and bloom, it does not mean that we are better off as a nation. It just means that the magnates have fatter bank accounts.

The success of a nation is not measured by how many fat cats run around in 4x4 Mercedes – it just shows how stupid those fat cats are, to run such pricey machines on Malta’s execrable roads.

Pullicino did worse than simply extend development zones, thanks to him homes were torn down to create high-rise flats. High-rise became not only acceptable but legal and the townscapes were ruined, in some cases forever.  

Villages were simply destroyed and the blame falls squarely on Pullicino. Just in the same way that Tower Road was pulled down in the days of Lorry Sant, Malta and Gozo’s skyline spiralled out of control under Pullicino.

The disappearance of Maltese townhouses, for great blocks of flats to rise in their place in our villages and towns, is due in a very large measure to Pullicino.

At the Stamperija (PN HQ) at the time, allegedly countless speculators would be entertained by the party bigwigs and I dare say that the ODZ zones would be tweaked to accommodate them. Whether the ODZ changed to accommodate them I cannot say, I can only speculate that it was a big friggin coincidence.

Overnight individuals became millionaires, their land previously worth nothing was turned into a virtual gold mine. Their land became the El Dorado of the Central Mediterranean.

Now the PN has decided to push itself into a front-runner place in the opposition to Zonqor.

They should speak out and state that in contrast with the days of George Pullicino they are taking a stand on ODZ, but they should not lead a green campaign. They would taint that.

Many individuals, including myself, will not protest with the PN or the PL. If MPs and their cohorts want to join they are free to do so, but fronting a campaign is simply not on.

It will scare the environmentalists who are willing to take a stand and if the PN had any sense, it would latch on to the fact that trying to front such a campaign would make those who are pale red, among others, uneasy in opposing Zonqor.

Really someone should be telling Simon to think deeply before acting.

Thinking of course is not in fashion.  Knee-jerk reactions are.

Which of course brings me to the issue over the independent inquiry headed by retired judge Philip Sciberras. I have had my luck with Philip Sciberras, having been found guilty in an appeals court in a case instituted by Dom Mintoff. I had taken umbrage at the fact that Sciberras had acted as Mintoff’s lawyer and could be partial, and yes he was a Labour MP.

But I accepted the verdict and moved on.

This week Beppe Fenech Adami accused Sciberras of being unfit for purpose, his argument based on the premise that he was a Labour MP once upon a time.

He conveniently omitted the fact that Sciberras was appointed judge in 2002 by the one and only Eddie Fenech Adami. Obviously Beppe knows this. But really and truly it does not really matter if Beppe is inconsistent. Well, that it is what it seems like.

Ironically the same lawyer who stood in for Brian St John during the inquiry chaired by Sciberras, praised Sciberras on his retirement for his seriousness and love for the law.

That lawyer’s name is Andrew Borg Cardona, il-Bocca. But maybe the PN is raising this outcry about the inquiry, to be able to say ‘I told you so’ should the findings be inimical to the PN’s interests. Well, enough said.

Express your personal views on this matter and contribute to the brand new MT Observer.