“As long as there is the last remaining fraction of a square metre of land that can be saved, we will continue our fight to safeguard agricultural land and stop senseless development.” ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo stated this at a press conference in L-Iklin where once again agricultural land is being given up for construction. As if we don’t have enough developed land already!
Parliament can still stop the destruction of a substantial part of the 2 million square metres of land that the Nationalist Government slated for development in 2006. It is futile that the parties in Parliament declare their love for open spaces when both have refused to reverse immediately the 2006 rationalisation plan.
ADPD – The Green Party General Secretary Dr Ralph Cassar said that from the beginning of this destruction over the last 16 years the party has been to various towns and villages, to raise awareness about the destruction unleashed by the 2006 rationalisation scheme. This has been happening all over Malta – from Swieqi to Birżebbuġa, Marsaxlokk, Marsaskala, Mosta, Ħ’Attard and more recently in Santa Luċija – to name a few places. Today it is L-Iklin’s turn.
Rationalisation is going to lead to the destruction of around 5,000 square metres of land on this site. While the government professes to want to protect the farmers, it fails to change and reduce development zones to save arable land. In this case, the developer wants more. The developer has the cheek to ask the Planning Authority (PC00054/17) to build a road over ODZ land – that is extending further the area already given for development by the rationalisation scheme. Moreover this development may even be quite a risk as it may be closer to a fireworks factory than the minimum distance required by law. The developer is not happy with the land given for development in 2006 but wants more. That is always the case – they always want more. The parties in Parliament on their part, sing the virtues of a better quality of life, but through their actions enable the destruction and overdevelopment of our country, concluded Cassar.
Cacopardo said that we are seeing a continuous assault on agricultural land. In spite of all the nice statements that one finds in the Acquisition and ownership of agricultural land reform White Paper published earlier this week, permits such as for this site in L-Iklin continue to be granted for large tracts of land that until 2006 were considered outside the development zone.
The attack on agricultural land goes on unabated. It is pertinent to point out that both Prime Minister Robert Abela and PN leader Bernard Grech have declared their position against curtailing development zones. Both the Partit Laburista and the Partit Nazzjonalista work hand-in-hand in protecting developers: both support the destruction of arable land and are ready to sacrifice quality of life at the altar of greed. Farmers always get the short end of the stick – whoever is in Government.
There are also the local plans, which are not fit for purpose since they do not consider the cumulative impact of proposed developments. There is an urgent need for these to be revised. If our members of parliament truly have the citizens’ quality of life at heart, if they sincerely believe that we should save the little that is left, if they honestly want to protect farmers, and if they meaningfully value open spaces, we invite them to present a parliamentary motion for the local plans to be revised and for the 2006 rationalisation exercise to be scrapped. Unfortunately we know that none of the current MPs are going to do this.
On ADPD – The Green Party’s part, as long as there is the last remaining fraction of a square metre of land that can be saved from senseless development, we are going to insist that development zones are reversed to what they were prior to 2006, and that the local plans are revised without delay, concluded Cacopardo.
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Insalvaw il-ftit li fadal
“Sakemm jibqa’ mqar feles ta’ metru kwadru ta’ raba’ li nistgħu nsalvaw, nibqgħu għaddejjin b’din il-ġlieda favur il-ħarsien tar-raba’ u kontra l-iżvilupp tal-art bla rażan.” Dan qalu Carmel Cacopardo Chairperson ta’ ADPD – The Green Party huwa u jitkellem f’konferenza stampa fl-Iklin fejn biċċa art oħra, bħalissa raba’, se tingħata għall-iżvilupp. Qisna m’għandniex biżżejjed, art żviluppata diġà.
Il-Parlament għadu fil-ħin biex isalva biċċa mdaqqsa mill-2 miljun metru kwadru li l-Gvern Nazzjonalista ta għall-iżvilupp fl-2006. Huwa ta’ xejn li l-partiti fil-Parlament jgħidulna kemm għandhom għal qalbhom l-ispazji miftuħa meta it-tnejn li huma qed jirrifjutaw li jħassru b’mod immedjat il-pjan ta’ razzjonalizazzjoni tal-2006.
Dr Ralph Cassar, Segretarju Ġenerali tal-ADPD – The Green Party fakkar kif tul dawn l-aħħar 16-il sena, mill-bidunett ta’ dan l-isfreġju, ADPD żar diversi postijiet fejn qed isseħħ il-qerda minħabba l-iskema ta’ razzjonalizzazzjoni. Dorna Malta, mis-Swieqi, sa Birżebbuġa, Marsaxlokk, Marsaskala, il-Mosta, Ħ’Attard, u dan l-aħħar Santa Luċija, fost postijiet oħra. Illum erġajna qegħdin l-Iklin.
F’dal-post, ir-razzjonalizazzjoni se tfisser il-qerda ta’ art ta’ madwar 5,000 metru kwadru. Il-Gvern jitkellem li jrid jipproteġi lill-bdiewa, imma jirrifjuta li jbiddel u jnaqqas iż-żoni tal-iżvilupp biex isalva art agrikola. Hawn ukoll, għax l-iżviluppatur m’għandux biċċa art kbira kif jixtieq, dan qed jitlob lill-Awtorità tal-Ippjanar (PC00054/17) biex parti mit-triq tkun fuq żona li attwalment għadha ODZ – jiġifieri qed tintalab iktar art milli diġà ittieħdet bir-razzjonalizzazzjoni. Saħansitra dan l-iżvilupp jista’ jkun ta’ periklu billi jista’ jkun eqreb għal kamra tan-nar fl-inħawi mill-minimu permess bil-liġi. Mhux kuntent li l-biċċa art li għandu ngħatat għall-bini fl-2006, iżda jrid biċċa oħra. Dawn dejjem iridu iktar aktar. Il-partiti fil-Parlament min-naħa tagħhom bil-paroli jitkellmu dwar il-kwalità tal-ħajja imma bil-fatti jagħmlu bil-maqlub, temm jgħid Cassar.
Il-Perit Cacopardo qal li dan li qed naraw illum huwa assalt kontinwu biex art agrikola tingħata għall-iżvilupp. Minkejja il-kliem sabiħ li naraw fil-White Paper intitolata Riforma fil-Qasam tar-Raba’ li ħarġet din il-ġimgħa, jkomplu jingħataw permessi bħal dawn li bihom żoni sħaħ li sal-2006 kienu meqjusa mhux għall-iżvilupp jingħataw għall-bini.
L-attakk fuq art agrikola jkompli. Infakkru li dan il-Prim Ministru, Robert Abela, kif ukoll il-kap tal-PN Bernard Grech it-tnejn iddikjaraw li mhux se jnaqqsu ż-żoni tal-iżvilupp. Kemm il-Partit Laburista kif ukoll il-Partit Nazzjonalista huma ħaġa waħda fejn tidħol l-protezzjoni tal-ispekulaturi: t-tnejn jappoġġjaw il-qerda tal-art u tal-kwalità tal-ħajja fuq l-artal li jigglorifika l-ispekulazzjoni tal-art. Il-bdiewa dejjem jispiċċaw ilaqqtuha – hemm min hemm fil-Gvern.
Il-pjani lokali, meta saru, ma sarux sew. L-impatt kumulattiv tal-iżvilupp propost qatt ma ġie analizzat. Il-ħtieġa li jkunu soġġetti għal revizjoni hi waħda urġenti. Nistiednu lill-membri parlamentari, jekk vera għandhom għal qalbhom il-kwalità tal-ħajja tan-nies, jekk vera jemmnu li għandhom isalvaw il-ftit li għad baqa’, jekk iridu verament jipproteġu lill-bdiewa, u jekk verament iridu jipproteġu l-ispazji miftuħa biex jippreżentaw mozzjoni fil-parlament biex jiġu reveduti l-pjani lokali u biex il-pjan ta’ razzjonalizzazzjoni tal-2006 jitħassar. Nafu, sfortunatament, li ħadd minnhom mhu se jagħmel dan.
Aħna min-naħa tagħna se nibqgħu nisħqu li ż-żoni tal-iżvilupp għandhom jitreġġgħu lura għal dawk ta’ qabel l-2006, u li l-pjani lokali għandhom jiġu reveduti minnufih. Se nibqgħu ninsistu sakemm ikun għad baqa’ imqar l-aħħar biċċa metru kwadru ta’ art li għad tista’ tkun salvata minn żvilupp mhux meħtieġ, temm jgħid Cacopardo.
