Tag: development

Categories
Environment

A Chimney Sweep Movement

chimney_akkuza

Maltese politicians have no balls. Rather the few balls that might have existed in the political milieu seem to be held firmly in the grasp of the construction industry. As we all know “quis testiculos habet, habeat cardeam et cerebellum” (he who holds the balls, controls the heart and mind). This is no news really.

Much before the Labour Taghna Lkoll movement openly went to bed with the Malta Development Association fronted by Mr. Sympathy Sandro Chetcuti it was no secret that for a political party to be successful it had to be supported economically by the construction industry. No money meant no party. From the early eighties to this day this was the main mantra. At its heyday in power the nationalist party and its secretary Joe Saliba had the infamous  JS list of benefactors. On the eve of the last election rumours were rife of dealings at a mysterious floor of Labour HQ linked to promises and deals with businessmen.

The sadder news for Malta is that of all industries to control the agenda for political parties we are lumped with a most unscrupulous counter-intuitive one. Yes, counter-intuitive, because on a tiny island that is but a spit in the Mediterranean where real estate comes at a premium, the main result of the most successful lobby on the island is a constant need of construction and space for construction.

Yes, it is a heritage of the nationalist party days when indiscriminate, unplanned construction was encouraged. So you suddenly have an industry that feeds on the need to build, build, build. It is barely regulated whether you look at it from a health and safety perspective or from an environmental/urban planning perspective. The secret formula is Got Money, Then Build. The seafront from Paceville to Valletta, the Bugibba front, and a myriad atrocities pock marking the scarce surface of the area are a witness to this. Have we forgotten the latest plans before Zonqor and Qala exploded into the scene? Do we forget that there is a beach planned to be built just opposite Manoel Island? Right there where even ducks might not dare to swim.

It is a vicious circle that can only be explained by analogy. Imagine that a magnate arrives in Malta with the grand idea of setting up a monopoly in the Chimney industry. What? I hear you ask, there are no chimneys in Malta. Exactly. It’s a monopoly in the waiting. I’m surprised no one thought of it yet. Pre-election he sets up a couple of meeting with some Joes from the party that seems to be about to get into power and promises are made – possibly even money is donated (remember Sandro Chetcuti and his “I donate to everyone” statements?

Once his chosen party is in government the plan begins. A new law is introduced obliging every household to have at least one fireplace with a chimney exit. Some penny-a-paper professor is commissioned to produce a report explaining how energy efficient it all is and before you can say “Legal Notice” the law has shot through parliament. The industry is ready and set up. Chimney installers, chimney maintainers and chimney repairers. The PM is beaming with this great plan that brings “many new jobs” to the island and also helps the poor people who have had such energy inefficient household before.

One minute Malta needed no chimneys. The next, because businessmen and polticians said so Malta becomes a chimney state. Far-fetched? Think again. Ask yourself why the tiny spit in the Mediterranean with a tiny surface area has such an important and burgeoning construction industry.

You have the developers and politicians to thank.

Categories
Environment Politics

Rape, Lies and a Jordanian Constructor’s University

rape_akkuza

Did I say gullible? More extraordinary news today as the Sadeen University (I’m not falling for the American crap) saga continues to unfold.  The story in the Times under the headline “University plan viable only with the use of ODZ land” is particularly intriguing (read the text of the story below). We are told that a government source has confirmed that the American University project is only viable if ODZ land is used because the land there is cheaper “and that is the price government is prepared to pay”. Government? Pay? Really?  Here’s just a few of our observations:

1. The mask has fallen quickly on this one. Much quicker than it ever did on the Citizenship Scheme and Henley and Partners. The words “American” and “University” failed to constitute sufficient snake oil to lubricate the painful reality of the truth: Public land that is not designated for development would be raped and the little private owners involved will make a killing thanks to Labour’s sale. Education has nothing to do with this. This is pure and simple speculation of the ugliest kind. Muscat is the construction industry’s messiah and it does not cost his pocket one thing. It’s the public and its land that will pay the price.

2. Investment? What investment? Since when does attracting foreign investment involve “the price government is prepared to pay”? Not only are we allowing foreign constructors to rape our nation’s limited surface resources but we are paying for it. Isn’t that brilliant? Taghna Lkoll my backside.

3. “The land will be given to the investors, Sadeen Group, through a concession on temporary emphyteusis authorised by a parliamentary resolution. It is not yet known how long the period will be. The contract for the land will stipulate that it can only be used for educational purposes.” Sweet. For an undefined period  we are giving away yet another chunk (90k square metres) of our land. The inclusion of a derisory clause limiting the use to educational purposes can only be seen in the light of the recent arse-minded decisions in the domain of planning including Michael Falzon’s “this is not an amnesty”. So much for a guarantee.

4. The university and american bit might be too complicated for mere mortals to be able to assess the extent of the travesty. Let’s imagine a parallel scenario. Muscat announces that the Sejfeddin Group is willing to invest a billion euros to build a leisure resort on Comino. Present at the launching are two senior managers from Disney World Paris who, it turns out, were paid a handsome fee by Sejfeddin Group to provide designs for the new resort based on their experience. Announcing the Disneyish Resort of Malta, Muscat informs the general public that an area amounting to three quarters of Comino including the Blue Lagoon and St. Mary’s Bay will be handed over to the Sejfeddin Group under temporary emphyteusis. There are no real alternatives to this since Comino was the only plan that would make the Disney Resort viable. All that is missing from this fictitious example is the sale of a few patches of land owned by persons linked to Labour. Spiffing isn’t it? Then we could truly say that this is a pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse.

from University plan viable only with use of ODZ land (The Times of Malta):

The new American university in the south has to be built on land in an outside development zone or the project will not be financially viable, a government source has confirmed. Any ODZ land being used for agriculture has a much lower value than land allocated for development, and that is the price government is prepared to pay. The land required is 90,000 square metres – the site identified is mostly public land, which also brings down the cost.

But 10,000 square metres of the total consists of seven areas of privately owned land, which lies at the centre. The owners include people renowned during the era of controversial former public works Labour minister Lorry Sant: Michael Axisa (il-Lay Lay), Piju Camilleri, Joe Chetcuti, Norman Clews, Joe Formosa, Joe Camilleri, Paul Abela and Manuel Farrugia.

The land will be given to the investors, Sadeen Group, through a concession on temporary emphyteusis authorised by a parliamentary resolution. It is not yet known how long the period will be. The contract for the land will stipulate that it can only be used for educational purposes. It is understood the government has made an offer to each landowner within the assigned area and is awaiting an answer from the individuals involved. The negotiations are not easy, but the government always has the option to expropriate land.

Categories
Mediawatch Rubriques

I.M. Jack – the pauline edition

imjack

Gone fishing or the Public Accounts Committee

I caught a glimpse of the proceedings at the Public Accounts Committee sessions. Inelegant and clumsy are the first words that come to mind. It was never meant to be a fashion statement or synchronised swimming, sure, but the overall impression before getting down to the nitty gritty is that of yet another debasement of institutional tradition.

Sitting in the metaphorical witness dock former PM Lawrence Gonzi had his patience tried by repeat questioning that seemed to be going nowhere. There was a moment of dramatic irony when Gonzi accused the Committee of not following the procedure it should (that of the COCP) when the Committee was actually chaired by (and therefore under the responsibility of) Jason Azzopardi of team PN.

Still, the line of questioning taken up by Justice Minister seems to be one of spurious fabrication very much in line with the journalistic style at MaltaToday (which revels in the idea of having kicked off this fracas in the first place) rather than the quest for some truth or other (in a land of multiple truths the first to the media machine is King). What exactly is the PAC after? What is this Enemalta business proving in the end?

In all probability this business, like surely many others to come, will prove that businesses, businessmen and corrupt persons in power (and by this I mean persons appointed to manage/run/sit on parastatal entities) will constantly try to find a convergence point in the shadows and suck from the public funds so long as they are not caught.

Amnesties and amnesia

It was also very interesting to watch the Justice Minister justify the line of questioning by claiming that the amnesty (proklama really) requires constant checking since one of the conditions it contains is that it can be withdrawn if the person enjoying its benefits is found to have hidden the truth.

So we have a “businessman” who is benefiting from an amnesty in order to assist the authorities in uncovering illicit activity by other “businessmen”. The current government’s line seems to be to question this amnesty (with the concurrent risk that many other people might end up not being brought to justice).

While all this is happening we have another sector (construction and development) in which the government seems to be adamant to offer a blanket amnesty to all those who have abused of the law (broken it) and partaken in the rape of the nation (metaphorically speaking). The Taghna Lkoll government has made no effort to hide its tight links to the Malta Developer’s Association and it’s erstwhile Chairman (or is he President?) Sandro Chetcuti.

There is no whistleblowing reason for an amnesty here. The feeble excuse that Taghna Lkoll philosophy can throw up (yes, like vomit) is that those paying for the amnesty will generate lots of money for the coffers. A blanket amnesty that allows people to buy scars on the face of the nation. Brilliant. So long as Sandro tells us that everything is just fine for the developers we must all be grateful.

Kulcha and Karnival

It may seem too facile an argument but the priorities of Taghna Lkoll in the field of culture are so obviously linked to core voting interests that you cannot but argue on the lines that sound both snobbish and classist. As the effort to denigrate the City Gate project continues to gather momentum we are told of the Great Carnival and Music set of stalls that will offset the great vacuum that exists. Minister Bonnici (him again) told the gathered press that we cannot continue with this “silo mentality” – I must confess I had to look it up since I am not a FEMA graduate and find marketing catchphrases particularly undigestible.

It turns out that fighting the “silo mentality” means copying the design of garages and stalls that some Taghna Lkoll-ing carnival float enthusiast (and ONE employee) had visited on a trip abroad and spending some 6 million euros to build a sort of samba-drone that doubles up as a garage band gig place much to the chagrin of William Mangion.

Is it facile to argue that the ditched plans for the ditch/moat are crying for re-instatement and could well have done with some of those millions? Is it too easy to argue that while we appreciate that the carnival custom in Malta does deserve an investment of sorts (inclusive of a papier-mache’ museum) this should not come as an easy-fix solution that is obviously lacking in global planning?

Personally I love the idea of a regenerated part of Marsa hosting a carnival drove complete with museums and apprentice schools. It is the way these ideas suddenly pop up and are so very evidently the result of “lapazzar” planning simply to shut the mouths of another cohort of voters that is absolutely obnoxious. Stilll. It’s better than those bastard nationalists who never listened eh?

They’re drowning again

Far from the offices of wake up and smell the coffee. Far from the populistic approaches and ISIS scaremongering. There, in the deep blue tempest toss’d seas, more and more of them are dying. On the eve of the day when Malta celebrates the feast of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, tens of immigrants who had left Tripoli in the hope of a better future lost their lives to the sea and the cold. What value those lives to the thousands who will throng the streets of the city of gentlemen adulating the Magnus who like the immigrants had been toss’d by the same sea?

Lawyers and Lawyers

Two issues. First the hunting then the constitutional case where the PN seems to have regained two seats. We had a parade of practising and retired lawyers stating the obvious (and then even complicating matters in interviews by not getting it quite right) when it came to referenda and their consequences. Did we need that charade? It reminded me of that farce re-enacted by Alfred Sant pre-1996 when he sat down with the an accommodating notary to sign a “contract with the people” – blissfully ignorant that the whole business of election, swearing-in and governing already covered the job.

As for the constitutional case. There is a glaring silence on the PN side when it comes to arguing which seats should be compensated and why. I watched a lawyer called Adrian Delia perform logical summersaults on an interview with newsbook.com.mt. He was clearly confused by the question as to whether or not Labour should have lost two seats in the process. Let us set aside the absolute hypocrisy of a PN representative talking about proportional representation in parliament – the proportionality has nothing to do with it.

The two candidates Buttigieg and Azzopardi were deprived of their seats because of an error by the Electoral Commission when the original set of parliamentary seats was being distributed. Thus Azzopardi lost out to Justyne Caruana for the fifth seat in the 13th district. If the error is admitted and the proper count repristinated then it should automatically follow that Caruana would lose her seat and Azzopardi would take it up (ths giving a 3-2 result for PN in Gozo). Same applies for the Edward Scicluna – Claudette Buttigieg situation.

The compensation of seats for proportional purposes takes place AFTER the original election of 5 candidates from each district. It has nothing to do with the error that took place BEFORE the proportional attribution. The PN request before the Civil Court should technically have included the request to have the Labour candidates erroneously elected replaced with the nationalist candidates who had been “cheated” by the error.

Happy Saint Paul’s feast to all J’accuse readers. We are one month away from our 10th anniversary of this blog. Thank you for your custom.

Categories
Mediawatch

Deconstructing Malta’s Architecture

Or rather its architects. An article on last Sunday’s Times “Property slowdown driving architects out of business” focused on the employment problems faced by architects today “with large architectural firms laying off staff due to lack of work”. It is not clear whether the article was prompted by a press conference or press release or indeed whether it is the result of a sudden decision to educate the employability of budding Renzo Pianos. The clips taken from the Malta Developers Association president (ex-Minister and MEPA pioneer Michael Falzon) combined with a similar article on Maltatoday (Property developers on warpath…) would lead one to believe that the Times’ effort is a failed attempt at transforming a drab lobby release into a news item.

What does jar however is the quality of the complaints by the “architects” who apparently are going out of business because of “exorbitant fees” being charged by the planning authority. The logic underlying the developers’ lobby is mind-bending. They cannot really complain about the construction free-for-all being reined in – not much sympathy there right? Instead the complaint is disguised behind the more human approach of “unemployed persons” – these persons being the architects who have been thrown out of the large architectural firms  after they “had been employed when the property and construction sectors were booming.”

Then comes the surprise admission:

One architect said the firm where he worked was moving away from simply designing apartments, maisonettes or villas and was turning to renovating vacant properties in an attempt to make them attractive to prospective buyers.

Really? Is renovating vacant properties rather than injecting more concrete into the earth a last ditch resort? Well I never. I’d have thought that the renovating bit would have automatically superseded the need to flood the market with new properties when even those available are having a hard time to sell.

If you go by the Maltatoday article then the other problem is the Inland Revenue valuation of apartments. A bargain buy means nothing when the IR inspectors value it at a much higher “potential” price. You do not have to be in the architecture business to be shocked by the IR evaluations – just watch it happen whenever somebody inherits a property or there is the division of a property between co-owners.  There might be a point where the tax on a sale is actually higher than the profit being made.

The question I have though is whether the business of unemployment of architects is really the heart of the problem. Could it not be that our “development industry” is based on a self-destructing business model that is also harmful to the nation? The warts of the system are bound to be exposed much further during a slump in the sales market but the whole wheels that make the system turn might be aiming in the wrong direction. A development industry that focuses heavily on constructing, constructing, constructing without diversifying into more socially friendly models (dare I mention CSR) will hardly find any supporters for its cause beyond the politician who is in dire need of their money. Ironically it is this kind of money that the constructors no longer seem to be able to provide – which bodes for interesting times.

Meanwhile spare a thought for the unemployed architects.

 

(check out Kunstler’s TED talk “The Tragedy of Suburbia” in the mediabox – that’s the top right corner)

Categories
Rubriques

I.M. Jack – The Saturday Protest Edition

Saint Julian’s

Paceville’s suburb and older neighbour is sending out an SOS for help. An Old Aloysian prefect of discipline has set up the SAVE SAINT JULIAN’S campaign after having noticed an alarming amount of planned projects concentrated within a small area between Balluta and Spinola. Yes, in many ways it could look like another NIMBY story that occurs when a community has had enough of concrete and high-rise. In other words it could seem to be another egoistic ploy to save one’s own corner of this rock condemned to unfettered development.

Walking through the backstreets from Sliema to Paceville yesterday I took time to snap some hipstamatic shots of architectural gems that might soon be relegated to the annals of history once a contractor gets his hands on them. The Torregiani Villas nestled among the hideous monstrosity of Le Meridien in Balluta are a clear testimony to all that is wrong with our planning sense. We need not even go into environmental tree-hugging mode to understand the brutality of pen-pushing administrative permits. Aesthetic considerations are close to nil. Kiosks turn into pavement hogging restaurants, old townhouses make way for obscene flats (with little or no car parking opportunities) and a refused application today is only just a hopeful window for an approval tomorrow.

So they want to build in the middle of Balluta valley. They want to choke Spinola and deliver the death blow to what little remains that can be described as picturesque. “Save Saint Julian’s” is less of a protest and more of an appeal. It is the kind of appeal that J’accuse takes to heart. Save Saint Julian’s are asking that the law be applied. Yes. It’s that simple. They are not saying DO NOT BUILD. They are not yelling NOT IN MY BACK YARD. They are painfully aware of the concrete reality that is the Sliema/St. Julian’s (forgive me for mentioning the two in the same sentence) front. They are simply calling upon the authorities to apply the law before which everybody should be equal.

It is useless giving permits to developers who will suddenly blame MEPA when their plans on paper turn out to be the hideous monstrosity that everyone else except the developers had seen (pace Albert Mizzi). It is useless “refusing” a permit if contractors feel invincible and go ahead anyway full knowing that the more development there is the more difficult will it be to refuse the next round of applications (see “Polidano can, if he thinks he can“).

On a day like today, PM Gonzi’s ears are best kept out of the kitchen and in Spinola Square. There’s a bunch of people who have something to say and would very much appreciate knowing that somebody, somewhere is listening.

 

Categories
Politics

Polidano can, if he thinks he can

There’s a story in today’s Times about how MEPA has stopped illegal works being carried out by property developer Polidano. The work in question was being carried out in the gardens of a number of Balzan townhouses that are protected. It’s the usual story, you would say, but what really sets alarm bells ringing are phrases such as:

“(…) Mr Polidano had repeatedly applied to knock down four historic townhouses in the village core to build six terraced houses with swimming pools instead.”

Repeatedly? Forgive my stupidity but can I ask a simple question: Can he do that? What is the point of a permit application system if it is not exhaustive? You apply and you either get or don’t get a permit. I would guess that that should be that. Apparently it isn’t. If someone like Mr Polidano does not like the outcome of his application then he can keep on trying until maybe somebody changes his mind – and then he will get permission to bulldoze 300-year old townhouses to build his swimming pool projects in Balzan.

If there ever was a massive WTF then this is it. Here is my hastily constructed timeline based on the facts in the article:

March 2003 – permission requested for alterations to facade etc  – REFUSED

May 2004 – appeals in relation to refusal – REFUSED

December 2005 – application to transform two town houses into 43 apartments and 121 car underground park (while preserving facades) – REFUSED

April 2007 – appeal in relation to Dec 05 application – REFUSED

July 2009 – asks board to reconsider decision – REFUSED

But some people don’t take no for an answer. Notwithstanding the Inter-style track record with MEPA Polidano’s bulldozers seem to have swung into action  and were busy within the protected gardens (see photos on Times report).

We are talking about gardens in townhouses in Balzan – an area famous for the citrus trees and more. We are talking about at least one of the houses having a historic value with Grandmaster De Rohan having used it as his country residence. I’d love to meet the architect who signs off these “projects” for Mr Polidano. What could be going through his or her mind when he is appending his or her name to such wanton destruction.

Worse still though is the attitude that Mr Polidano has with MEPA. Somehow you get the feeling that all the enforcement notices and orders to desist will not prevent the total destruction of the gardens in Balzan.

All the MEPA orders, and all the enforcement men will never be able to put Balzan together again. 

 

also from Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar