Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar condemns Qawra, Sliema Chalet declassifications

Conservationist NGO Flimkien Għal-Ambjent Aħjar said a government bid to declassify parts of the Qawra and Sliema Chalet seashores under the Public Domain Act, lacked any proper motivation and should be denied.

The declassifications are intended to facilitate the Suncrest lido redevelopment by entrepreneur Anglu Xuereb, and a proposed privatisation of the Chalet structure in Sliema.

FAA maintains that this public consultation is a sham and that the Planning Authority launched it without any publicity during the Christmas holiday period and the abortion debate in order for this to pass under the radar.

The proposed Qawra lido redevelopment

Public domain declassification must be justified by the proponent, in this case the minister responsible for lands and the Planning Authority, but FAA said the motivation to ‘proceed with projects which will serve both private and public interests’ was too generic and meaningless.

“This does not allow the public to consider the matter in any detail,” FAA said. “This motivation is so wide that it can apply to anything and any site in the Maltese islands and would set an ugly precedent for the declassification of all Public Domain sites. Practically any site in Malta can have projects or developments that ‘serve both private and public interests’.”

FAA said the declassification proposal was also against the letter and spirit of Article 9 of the Constitution of Malta which requires the State to safeguard the nation’s landscape and historical and artistic patrimony, environment and its resources.

“This is the highest law of the country and is being ignored by the minister responsible for lands and the Planning Authority. With this proposal the State is not protecting or conserving the environment for the present generation, let alone future generations.”

FAA said that it was ironic that since the law was enacted, the first implementation was declassification, and not the promised addition of sites to the Public Domain. “FAA has proposed some 22 additional sites but despite the Government’s claimed intention in the White Paper, only one has been included in the Public Domain. The justification for the declassification has not been made and the public is being kept in the dark as to the purpose of the declassification contrary to the letter and spirit of the law. Consequently Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar can only condemn the proposed declassification.”