Din l-Art Helwa urges Parliament to approve public domain bill

Environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa has called on Parliament to unanimously approve a public domain bill that aims to prevent the commercialisation of Malta’s coastline and seabed and sites of historical and ecological importance.

“The public domain bill provides protection for state-owned property and sites, since it imposes restriction upon the government as to what it can do with its land,” DLH said in a statement. “In doing so, no speculation on state-owned property can occuer without it being declassified. This system for declassification should be foolproof and not create a loophole that would undermine the public domain Bill.”

The Bill – presented by Opposition MPs Jason Azzopardi, Marthese Portelli and Ryan Callus - proposes that the first 15 metre of coastline be automatically recognized as part of the public domain. Other areas being proposed for public domain include valleys, forested areas, nature reserves, open countryside, public squares, forts, parks and any site of ecological or historical importance.

Tne law would enable the government to declassify parts of the public domain through an act of parliament, but only with the support from the majority of MPs.

NGOs will be allowed to propose land parcels that should be declared as public domain, and the government will be obliged to respond to their requests within four months. Din l-Art Helwa said that this clause will empower the public to put forward tracts of land to become parks.

“Malta has the highest density of population in the EU at 1,346 persons per square kilometre, and such a bill would provide guaranteed open spaces as a green lung for the ever increasing density of the Maltese Islands.,” the NGO said.