A public forum was held by Moviment Graffiti and Friends of the Earth at the FotE premises in Floriana on Wednesday to gauge the various proposals that individuals or groups would like to put forward for the final set of demands to be presented at a yet to be confirmed press conference on Saturday morning.
The protest event page says that the aim of this protest is to bring together residents, workers, farmers, students and organisations who are fed up of excessive and haphazard construction so as to make their voices heard in opposition to the madness that is consuming our country. We believe that together we can change this situation and fight the excessive power of the few who treat Malta as their own patch of land through which they can speculate and make profits.
The meeting was publicised as a public forum that aims to open up space for citizens to give their proposals and input on a number of issues, especially those related to the six demands of the protest. The proposals were noted down and they will be integrated into a set of reasonable demands which will be presented to the authorities after the protest on the seventh of September.
The demands will revolve around topics present on the protest event page which include – Policies; Authorities Responsible for the Environment and Planning; Large-Scale Projects; The Regulation of the Construction Industry; Roads and Transportation; Respect for our Planet, our Countr, and Ourselves.
What did individuals say?
A number of individuals came to represent themselves and their suggestions varied from tax incentives and mass transport to sacrificing civil liberties for the greater good.
Mass public transport is a solution that has been suggested by many, including most political parties on the island, and although the current administration has given it some thought, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Minister for Transport Ian Borg have been reluctant to give the go-ahead until studies are completed and a financially viable and sustainable version of the system is found and/or agreed upon.
Speaking of public transport, it was also suggested that the current public bus system’s schedule should be fully extended into the night, creating a 24-hour system which would make it more accessible to those who work night shifts or generally enjoy spending time out in the evening.
Moving onto personal transport, a number of suggestions were made to potentially push motorists towards other modes of transportation – Tax incentives for those who don’t have a car being one of them.
Other suggestions which might not be as easy to swallow for the general public included raising the driving age to 21, and completely banning cars that pollute the air.
A proposal which one does not hear as much as one would think was the creation of a list of lobbyists that have donated to political parties to increase transparency in government, particularly because it may help constituents see what direction candidates may go after they are elected.
Local politician Arnold Cassola suggested using the €700 million being invested in infrastructure upgrades on subsidies on public transport, and insisted on increased transparency when it came to the recent phenomenon of plans not being publicized due to them being “incomplete”.
Other proposals included giving the Environment and Resources Authority veto power over permit approval and one person also suggested civil disobedience as a method of protest.
What did NGOs and other groups propose?
Din L-Art Helwa
Din l-Art Helwa firstly noted that the main problem is the socio-economic model that this administration has chosen to move forward with.
Other proposals included the immediate halting of the Central Link Project; looking at underground possibilities; imposing buffer zones around scheduled buildings; increasing scheduling of buildings, and a moratorium on areas included in rationalisations in 2006.
They also suggested creating a property tax, although they didn’t go into detail as to how this would function, along with changing the building height limitations.
Kamra tal-Periti
Kamratal-Periti echoed Din l-Art Helwa in pointing out that the current socio-economic model revolved around increasing the population exponentially and that this was done without any prior long-term planning – which they also connected all six points chosen for the protest.
They noted that the Planning authority seemed to be focusing on permit control rather than planning and that it was still vague as to where contractors would be liable in certain situations.
Proper planning was also insisted on, particularly because the policies such as that of the petrol stations were simply rules governing a particular sector rather than an all-encompassing plan for the country.
Other groups in attendance also highlighted the rapid increase in population as an issue, and giving the ERA more powers as an environmental watchdog.
