Scramble for deliverables: the ministers of embellishment

As Malta is crushed by overdevelopment, green open spaces have become a new selling point for ministers in the scramble for the constituency vote. So is greening becoming the new patronage?

Cabinet members whose portfolios includes either park or fund management are actively taking credit for the upgrade of open spaces proposed in electoral districts which they contest.

A MaltaToday analysis shows that at least seven projects valued at over €9 million announced this year are promoted by ministers contesting electoral districts in which these projects are located.

The list excludes Gozo, which has its own minister with a wide portfolio (hunting included, quite dear to the Gozitan constituency) and is limited to garden projects and does not include other infrastructural projects.

Currently three agencies are mainly responsible for park developments: Parks Malta, which falls under energy minister Miriam Dalli; Greenserv, a branch of waste agency Wasteserv falling under environment minister Aaron Farrugia, and Ian Borg’s transport and infrastructure ministry, which includes the road-building agency Infrastructure Malta.

In development: the extension to the Ta’ Qali recreational zone is taking the shape of a concert arena, rather than a park area

Borg is also responsible for capital projects like the massive Ta’ Qali park as well as smaller infrastructural embellishment projects – one of the is a Via Sagra memorial of 14 commemorative slabs along a road in the seventh district contested by Borg.

And ministers responsible for funding mechanisms have also taken the limelight when announcing such projects. One of them is Alex Muscat, parliamentary secretary for citizenship, who is responsible for the funds generated by the golden passport scheme, which will bankroll a new lighting system for the Mosta dome and the proposed garden by the Mosta windmill, all in his constituency.

Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, parliamentary secretary for EU funds, also takes the limelight for EU-funded projects, while Labour MP Glenn Bedingfield, as chair of the Cottonera Foundation, has €7.6 million at his disposal for much-needed restoration projects in this historical gem. And tourism minister Clayton Bartolo is also responsible for the Foundation for the Development of Tourist Zones.

The rush to rehabilitate, upgrade or create new spaces comes amid growing concern on overdevelopment, resulting from the extension of building boundaries in 2006 and increased heights enabled by the tinkering on planning rules by the current administration. In Mosta for example, the new 4,000sq.m garden pales in comparison to a proposed five-storey development on two sites of 80,000sq.m of fields.

And while ministers take credit for greening projects, they are more reluctant in taking paternity on controversial projects like the proposed yacht marinas in Kalkara and Marsaskala, which are being pushed by Transport Malta, the transport regulator.

As a general election approaches in 2022, embellishment projects can be expected to become more common as a way of appease constituencies frustrayed by the construction madness.

In announcing a carbon neutral garden in Rinella together with Miriam Dalli, finance minister Clyde Caruana (a second district MP), announced that the next budget will have more funds allocated “to embellish our country, and above all, create more open spaces.”

But in a bid to ensure swift approval of these projects, they have been exempted from the need of a planning permit thanks to a legal notice published earlier in the year, creating a new class of development which does not require any planning permission.

Fast-tracking embellishment projects

Such projects include greening projects by government agencies, the installation of playing equipment within greening projects, green projects on schemed roads, the resurfacing of pavements with paving blocks and the installation of green walls.

They are not subject to mandatory public consultation, perpetuating the top-down approach of ministers taking decisions.

Although largely beneficial to the public, their design can be as controversial as is the case with the proposed garden in Mosta in a space which already includes a green space in and of itself.

The proposed introduction of a playing area and a kitchen garden in one of the presently closed citrus groves in the Romeo Romano garden in Santa Venera – which is also part of Aaron Farrugia’s constituency – received a mixed reception, especially from those who value the garden as a place of contemplation.

Although such projects are exempt from seeking a planning permit, prior approval has to be obtained from the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage for sites within Urban Conservation Areas and scheduled sites. Prior approval from ERA is needed for the uprooting of trees.

For example, although an upgrade of the Romeo Romano gardens in Santa Venera –including the introduction of a playing field in a closed part of the garden – was announced three months ago, plans had to be changed following consultation with the SCH. A spokesperson for the SCH confirmed with MaltaToday that the latest drawings submitted to the Superintendence are “for a reduced and toned-down proposal from what was originally proposed”. Interventions will have to be reversible, and natural materials sympathetic to the architecture of the garden will be used. The latest proposal has been deemed acceptable from a cultural heritage point of view.