Malta could become the Singapore of the Mediterranean as new planning legislation threatens to cram the tiny island with high rise blocks, activists have warned.
Heritage groups allege that a recent building boom, which has already disfigured many rural areas, will accelerate thanks to bills in parliament that drastically loosen construction rules.
“There is a building frenzy on Malta and if these bills become law there will be no more limits on what developers can do,” said Patrick Calleja, the president of heritage charity Din l-Art Helwa, one of a number of organisations fighting the legislation.
More than a quarter of Malta is already built on, the highest proportion in the European Union where the average is 4.4 per cent. As it has expanded into online gaming and banking, tower blocks have sprung up around the 16th century skyline of the capital Valletta, prompting a call last month from Unesco to leave views of the world heritage site uncluttered.
On the island of Gozo just off Malta, the churches in ancient rural villages are dwarfed by cranes as hundreds of new apartment buildings are constructed.
Just before parliament’s summer recess, two bills were introduced by the government that would make it much harder to appeal against new permits and impose fines of up to €5,000 on anyone lodging appeals deemed “vexatious”.
Xlendi bay on the island of Gozo has become crowded with apartment buildings
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The bills would reduce the power of the courts to oppose permits, while the island’s politically appointed planning authority would get discretionary powers to override existing legislation.
Claire Bonello, a lawyer who campaigns against over construction, said: “It’s horrendous, the planning authority can basically make things up as it goes along.”
Johann Buttigieg, the head of the planning authority who could not be reached for comment, previously told The Times that his vision for Malta was a “city island”, devoid of countryside.
Robert Abela, the prime minister, last month heralded a measure in the bills to allow families who had invested their savings in illegally built properties to obtain an amnesty. He said he had spoken to a voter with cancer who was worried about losing his illegally built family home.
The reform would introduce “discipline, clarity and certainty” to the planning process, Abela said.
Bonello said Abela’s appeal to owners living in illegal buildings was “just the gloss” hiding the real purpose of the bills. “There is an election in the offing and the government is looking for donations from developers and speculators,” she said.
Calleja said he believed the government had its eye on one particular project. “The cabinet said it wanted to review local zoning laws in St George’s Bay restricting buildings to five or six storeys in order to allow two 27 storey buildings and a 35 storey building. With the new legislation they can do that,” he said.
Contested plans to demolish Fort Chambray, a British colonial barracks on Gozo, to make way for luxury homes could also go ahead with the law change, Calleja added, as the government had the votes to make the bills law.
Fort Chambray on Gozo
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Vicki Ann Cremona, the president of the legal watchdog Repubblika, said: “It appears lawyers have collected all the court cases the planning authority has lost and written these laws to ensure the authority will win them in future. It’s very Machiavellian.”
She added: “Former Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat said he wanted Malta to become Singapore and that is where we are heading, with high rises everywhere.”
Calleja said: “Tourists don’t come to Malta to see modern buildings. Our identity as a nation is closely linked to villages and to Valletta. But it does not look like that is a priority the government wants to acknowledge.”