Malta is losing around 100 old buildings every year, Din l-Art Helwa President Maria Grazia Cassar warns in an interview published in today's edition.
These buildings are part of the country's fabric, which gives Malta its characteristics and architectural landscape. "Every house being taken down is eating away this limited resource which will one day end," Cassar warns.
DLH is one of a number of committed environmental and heritage NGOs that keep voicing their concerns about the environment and use all their time and effort to object to applications that would see some hideous new building replace a historic structure. Yet despite their best efforts, the authorities rarely take heed of these warnings, and construction frenzy goes on, unabated.
Cassar give a clear example: DLH recently appealed to the PA to schedule Villa St Ignatius in St Julian's.
The villa dates back to the 1800s and is considered to be the first example of ne-gothic architectural style in Malta. It served as a Jesuit college, a hospital during the First World War 1 and later housed the Russian revolution refugees which gave Exiles the location name. The structure has a rich history that no one can deny, but the PA did not see fit to schedule the building, which became another victim of the senseless destruction.
This is just one of many cases. Over the past few weeks we heard how a historic farmhouse in Qormi, dating back to the time of the Knights, was torn down, how a Moynihan House in St George's Bay will be sacrificed to make way for the mega project that has just been approved in the area, and how historic gardens in St Julian's and Ghaxaq will also be sacrificed at the altar of construction.
Cassar argues that the environment is not adequately represented in Planning Authority decisions.
The proof is in the numbers. DLH filed around 600 objections last year, but only a tiny fraction were upheld.
She says that there are situations where the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage would say something but the Planning Authority board does not follow it. "The Superintendence is the highest authority on heritage in Malta," Cassar points out.
Yet our experience with the SCH last week was far from encouraging.
Various remains are being endangered by the looming development in Zejtun, as the Bulebel industrial estate expands outwards. According to activists there are remains from Punic times and even structures from the time of the Knights of St John.
When asked about the planned expansion and the protection of cultural heritage at Bulebel, the Superintendence asked our journalist to "direct such questions to the ministry."
How can the SHC brush off such questions and ask us to send our questions to a government that is so openly committed to development and rapid economic expansion, even if it comes at the cost of our environment and cultural heritage?
How can the SCH be so strongly tied to a government that, as this newspaper has revealed, is advised by on development by the head of the developers' lobby.
The eNGOs are right when they say that that the environment is not duly represented in decision making processes. It almost always comes out as the loser. The government, comforted by its 40,000-vote majority, sees no conflict of interest in engaging the president of the Malta Developers Association to advise it on the property market and planning policies.
Our environment is shrinking, fast. Something has to be done now. Our political class lacks the will to do something about it. Our eNGOs cannot make it alone. It's up to each and every one of us to do what's right, to do our part.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2F3gKDb
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