One of the areas in which speculation
has been rife is development for tourism accommodation which
has reached exaggerated proportions. Whereas it is estimated
that anything between 30 and 40,000 tourist beds (calculated
on the highest tourist arrivals of summer 1994) are required,
45,348 are available/licensed, although the Hotels and Catering
Establishments Board (HCEB) calculate that some 63,000 are
on the market and by 1999 this figure is expected to reach
73,000.
Encouraged by a rent law that nobody trusts
vacant dwellings remain high and while (at the 1995 census)
8.4% of all dwellings identified as holiday or tourism homes
the rest were vacant for other reasons. According to the
1995 census 13,964, dwellings or 8.9% of the total are new
or in a good state of repair. The rent laws discourage renting
to Maltese citizens, and people's seeking homes have been
forced to build. Utilising the vacant dwellings for homes
would satisfy much of housing demand and go a long way in
removing the pressure off unbuilt areas.
The result of all this building activity
has left the Maltese Islands virtually without areas where
no buildings can be seen. Most of our beautiful valleys
have been encroached upon and our countryside is littered
with many illegal buildings and others that should never
have been constructed.
Since late 1992 the government has made
statements announcing that all illegal buildings on public
land must be demolished by their owners. The government
threatened to demolish these buildings and charge the owners
should they not comply. In fact very few such buildings
have been demolished and none of great significance. In
the meantime the building inspectorate have amassed a long
(pending) list of court cases involving infringements of
building regulations. The suspicion of the general public
is that too many of these (especially where owners are influential
or wealthy) are never brought to a just conclusion.
The latest threat being posed by speculators
is the demand for golf courses and the government, without
consultation or proper published studies, has decided on
two more. Malta's only golf course is underutilised and
FoE considers golf courses to be an inefficient use of scarce
land resources. Golf courses use up resources in acutely
short supply - land and water whilst exposing both to chemical
pollution by fertilisers and pesticides far beyond the perimiter
of the course itself (FoE Malta has a seperarate position
paper on golf).
The new 'Nationalist' government elected
in September of 1998 has promised to extend the developmeant
areas, even if there is clearly no need for this.
Moviment ghall-Ambjent's principle environmental
objective has been to improve the use of land in Malta.
We recommend that :
| |
The
Local Plans be drawn in conjunction with local interested
bodies. Serious environmental impact studies be carried
out before major decisions are taken, both of the
plans themselves and of major developments. |
 |
No
further touristic or industrial development be contemplated
in areas that are unbuilt at present. |
|
The
planned 60,000 new units contemplated by the Structure
Plan be re-evaluated in the light of the large number
of dwellings currently underutilised. |
|
Government
contemplates changing the rent regulations so that Maltese
nationals will be able to rent dwellings at affordable
prices. |
|
Fines
for breaking the law where the use of land is concerned
be made prohibitive. Where the government itself does
not follow the required procedures civil servants
be personally held responsible. |
|
All
illegal buildings should be demolished at the owner's
expense. |
|
A
coastal strategy is drawn up which commits all interested
parties such as the Malta Maritime Authority, the
Planning Authority, Environment Ministry, Ports Authority,
Tourism Ministry, NTOM, Malta Freeport, etc to coastal
management policies. |
|
All
government projects are brought in line with PA procedures. |
|
No
more golf courses are planned unless on degraded land
and only with the backing of an EIA with a positive
outcome. |
