Callous disregard for residents’ welfare

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) deplores the fact that once again the Fort Cambridge (ex-Holiday Inn) project is set to violate residents’ rights as its imminent adjudication will take place without the most important studies.

A traffic management plan for the area is still being prepared by ADT. In an area which is already often gridlocked at peak hours, the effect of the approximately 1,000 more cars that the project will bring into the area is a key issue.

A project of these dimensions which has already created so much inconvenience during the excavation phase should be undertaking a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in order to study how the whole project is going to affect residents, both during the construction as well as later operational phases, and how such impacts can be reduced. This SIA had been repeatedly requested by the Sliema Local Council and the request had been accepted by MEPA. Other projects have been made to prepare a thorough SIA, so why not Fort Cambridge?

Sliema’s residents have been living in a construction site for decades. Over-development in Sliema is changing the Sliema community in every way, both as regards structure and age, as well as population density, way of life, quality of life, transport and even health issues. In spite of this, no one is caring about how this change is being brought about and no attempt is being made to alleviate the impacts of this change on Sliema’s residents.

In the context of an already established community, an SIA is the most important part of an environment assessment, as it ties together all the other studies in assessing how the construction, increased traffic, the use of water and electricity and drainage services, shading, winds and visual impact are going to affect residents’ way of life, physical and mental health and reduce as far as possible the negative impacts.

FAA has always maintained that the developers’ argument that high-rise development is better than intensive low development rings hollow when the area has already reached saturation point, as highlighted in MEPA’s Local Plans. Such a concentration of projects which are changing every aspect of life in Sliema, require a Strategic Environment Assessment in order to gauge the area’s requirements and ability to cope with such massive developments, as well to identify any remedial measures to be taken. MEPA’s outright refusal to carry out such an assessment indicates a callous disregard for residents’ welfare on the part of the authorities and a single-minded determination to push through building projects at any cost to the population.

This is not to mention the projects’ damage to our heritage, as ‘protected’ vistas of the whole harbour area will change, and the historic skyline of Valletta will never be the same again.

When Dr. Gonzi addressed Qui si-Sana residents as outgoing Prime Minister one week before the election, he promised them that their needs would be taken into account and that they would be consulted. So far no consultation has taken place. As Minister in charge of MEPA, the Prime Minister should put such promises into action by ordering a Strategic Assessment (SEA) and Social Impact Assessment.

Any rushed decisions taken without undertaking the required SEA, as well as a Social Impact Assessment and a Traffic Management plan would inevitably be flawed, reflecting a lack of good governance and a pro-developer bias on the part of both Dr. Gonzi and MEPA, as well as being a poor augury for MEPA reform and an inauspicious start for the new MEPA Chairman.