There seems to be no let-up to the rush of development in Malta. The prime minister himself yesterday rebutted appeals made to him 'to put a hand-brake on'. His message was clear: there must be more development, not less.
He was speaking about the destruction of more arable land this time in Zejtun to favour the extension of the Bulebel Industrial Estate. He said more industries want to come to Malta and create jobs and warned that if people lose their job, they need a new job.
You fall down if you stop in this globalized world, he warned. And there are industrialists wanting to open cannabis-based product factories.
But of course this onward rush is not just regarding factories but practically everything. Every street in Malta now has its own crane or two as houses are pulled down to be substituted by apartments.
Even contractors doing roadworks have so much jobs awaiting them that they juggle contracts and switch workers from one site to the other, leaving a mess behind.
This seems to be the Muscat-mantra. Faster, bigger, upward. Those who counsel balanced development get the short stick. There was a time when jobs for the Maltese came first - no longer now, whatever the sheen. Now we know that our growth was fuelled by the many foreign workers employed in our economy.
It is not due to IIP that we have made our surplus, Dr Muscat said, but through economic growth. Fair enough: an economy which registered the growth we have been seeing these past years is a success story acknowledged by foreign agencies and governments. The number of unemployed has never been lower.
But if the government thinks that like this Malta will become a Singapore, it has another think coming. Growth by construction growth does not turn Malta into a Singapore. It needs planning, and we do not have planning - look at the chaotic roads. It needs organized and planned growth whereas in Malta people follow anyone who has registered a small profit until the sector gets swamped - look at the gaming industry.
The prime minister glossed over the hiccups his government is facing - from the mess in the healthcare sector with one contractor selling his share to another to the mess that is the American University of Malta.
Now this is a pity. So many people are being left by the wayside - not just the Opposition supporters but also civil society while the ministries and the departments get filled with partisan appointees who many times know nothing except to lord it over the rest.
The Planning Authority has become a rubber stamp, enforcement is non-existent and the courts molly-coddle the guilty and dispense suspended sentences.
But the signature tune is: onward, upward, bigger and hang the consequences. In 100 years' time we will not be here.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2nkpE5f
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