St Paul’s Bay: From tranquility to turmoil

St Paul’s Bay was once a picturesque seaside village widely renowned for being a summertime destination for many Maltese.

However, the locality has seen drastic change over the past three decades, resulting in hundreds of commercial outlets, thousands of hotel rooms, and apartments that are rented all year round.

Indeed, the locality is often in the news because of the problems caused by its rapid and at times haphazard expansion. From violent arguments to garbage piling on street corners, constant construction and a lack of enforcement, St Paul’s Bay is experiencing problems that are common to other localities. But with a population of 32,000 and a large land area, these problems are more magnified.

Former St Paul’s Bay mayor and current Nationalist MP Graziella Galea and ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci, a resident, highlighted a wide array of problems that are chipping away at the quality of life of the locality’s residents.

Left to right: Sandra Gauci and Graziella Galea

‘Rats are our pets’

Graziella Galea believes that lack of proper waste management is to blame for the endless presence of garbage bag heaps on street corners.

“The new rubbish collection schedule is not adequate for this locality,” Galea said, adding that collection does not take place in a timely manner.

Waste collection takes place in the afternoon, she said, noting that the situation is not helped by lax enforcement.

“Rats have become our pets,” ADPD’s Sandra Gauci said. “One cannot increase the population of a locality and reduce the number of garbage collection days.”

Gauci referred to her party’s protest in the locality in July, where she had emphasised the filthy condition of pavements and public spaces, the noise from bars that residents have to put up with, and how economic interests had made citizens the victims of overdevelopment.

A lawless place

But another problem in Malta’s largest locality seems to be the frequent violent episodes happening on the streets. In August, pictures of a bloody man lying on the street unconscious following the latest fight quickly spread through social media.

“Unfortunately it is a common feeling amongst the majority of the residents that it is not safe any more to live in this locality,” explained Graziella Galea pointing to the number of thefts, fights and frequent vandalism in the area.

A few years ago, she said, the St Paul’s Bay police station was shut down and the number of police officers at the Qawra police station is insufficient to meet all of the community’s needs. “The presence of the community police has helped in this regard, but more presence on the street is required,” Galea said.

According to the MP street fights have become “the order of the day”, and very often they involve foreigners coming from the same country or from “the same regions of the world”.

This, she believes, is causing disquiet among law-abiding Maltese and non-Maltese residents. “There is a sense of helplessness brought on by the fact that there is turmoil in various parts of the community, especially given the lack of police presence,” Galea said.

New buildings going up mean that the locality’s population is expected to continue growing

Endless construction

Despite already being the largest locality in Malta, there seems to be no sign of growth abating with more and more residences being built around the clock.

In the first and second quarter of 2023, St Paul’s Bay saw the highest number of residential building permits being issued.

According to Graziella Galea this creates two different problems. There are properties being built on top of existing buildings and in the process causing damage to road infrastructure and existing properties. And newly built properties are rising to as much as eight stories, creating more pressure on the water and drainage infrastructure.

These strains on infrastructure are further exacerbated when one considers that a number of rented properties are used to house several residents, Galea added.

“The fact that large scale projects are taking too long to finish, is also creating a sense that St Paul’s Bay is all a construction site,” she said.

Writing was on the wall

Interestingly, Graziella Galea’s father, ex-PN minister, Ċensu Galea had written his Masters in Maltese thesis in 2012 on the transformation of St Paul’s Bay. He had highlighted the same troubling realities that the locality is experiencing today.

At the time, Ċensu Galea had noted that the locality was once the third smallest village on the island, and by 2005 it had already claimed the title of the second largest locality in Malta. Galea even predicted that if no action was taken, St Paul’s Bay would become the largest locality in the country, which he attributed to rapid construction of apartment complexes with cheap rental prices.

At the time of writing his thesis, Galea noted that St Paul’s Bay locals whose families had lived there for generations were unwelcoming of outsiders - foreign, as well as Maltese people - who came to the locality and changed its characteristics. He had noted that refugee communities were more likely to live in a segregated manner and Maltese residents who lived in the locality during the summer would cause parking problems for locals.

Fast forward more than 10 years and those same issues have grown exponentially.

Solutions

Finding solutions is not easy but ADPD’s Sandra Gauci believes that dividing St Paul’s Bay into two or three separate localities could help make it administratively more manageable.

“St Paul’s Bay’s population is close to that of Gozo (where several local councils exist) without accounting for tourists,” Gauci said, adding this issue required immediate attention.

Apart from the original village of St Paul’s Bay, the locality comprises Buġibba, Qawra, Xemxija and Burmarrad.

But Graziella Galea was not too keen on splitting the locality. What is mostly needed is “a good understanding of the society that is building up in the area”, she said.

Galea said the creation of subcommittees could help to gather information and propose solutions for the betterment of the locality.

Enforcement with regards to environmental matters and noise pollution was another point Galea brought up.

But she insisted that the local council has to have all the “financial support that is required to support the society which lives in it.”

With regards to finances, both Galea and Gauci pointed towards generating income through tourism. Galea stated that the local council could be financed from the eco tax paid by tourists, as well as from the licences paid by commercial entities.

“This could be a source of additional income for the council to mitigate the problems created by tourism itself,” Galea said.

Gauci went one step further calling for the introduction of a “tourist tax” which would directly finance the local council.

And in order to address the segregation within the community, Gauci insisted on making residents welcome, irrespective of who they are. “They have to feel that they belong here or else they will keep treating it simply as a place with no love,” Gauci said.