Land reclamation raises fears of more speculative housing

Conservationists Flimkien ghal-Ambjent Ahjar and Din l-Art Helwa have called into question government's plans for private reclamation projects, raising fears of speculative residential projects that will add to Malta's confirmed 72,150 vacant properties.

"Yesterday's call made no attempt to distinguish between landfill reclamation, as has been used in the past to extend promenades and docks, and the creation of artificial islands.  As land reclamation is hugely expensive, a private company is unlikely to undertake such a costly project in order to build a park or extend a promenade," FAA coordinator Astrid Vella said.

Din l-Art Helwa, the heritage and environmental NGO, said that inviting developers to provide government with their own environmental and economic feasibility studies on such projects was extremely dangerous.  "Such proposals, if not properly and impartially assessed, can inevitably result in the loss of natural assets which will be sacrificed for private and short term speculation. This is an extremely worrying proposal," DLH said.

On her part, Vella said that Malta's deep-water sites posed serious problems of subsidence that even wealthy countries like Dubai and Hong Kong had encountered, forcing them to suspend their programmes.

"Government is ignoring the warnings given by the MEPA-commissioned Scott Wilson 2008 study, which forecast serious environmental damage to protected marine flora and fauna as well as pointing to it being financially non-viable. Every coastline building project hitherto carried out has harmed the environment so why are risking murky seas for years, threatening the success of the diving element of tourism and fisheries? A more intelligent approach would be to focus on abandoned hotel sites and restoration projects which generate employment and improve Malta's competitiveness," Vella said.

Din l-Art Helwa has called for solutions that will enhance the economy "without selling off the country's major natural treasures".

"Land reclamation should only be entertained if projects of major or national importance warrant it and only after serious economic and environmental studies have been carried out. It is easy to generate wealth by exploiting the environment and the island's beauty spots. Development can be endless, but our natural spaces are finite. Once these are lost, they are lost forever.