Building regulations camouflage
The Building Regulations Office say they plan to have all construction sites inspected for irregularities, within a period of 6 weeks.
Rachel Borg is an independent columnist based in the tourism industry
In reality that means that practically the whole of Summer can go by without any action being taken by those who are abusing their permits or of them regulating the problem. They mention that even basic rules are being ignored so, we might ask, why do the builders need 15 days to comply? Shut them down. Would you be allowed to go 15 days driving without your seatbelt? Everyone is spoilt here in Malta, that’s the problem. Never accountable because there is always someone to excuse you and come to your defence.
It also does not seem to take into consideration, new projects that occur by the day. Look around and you will see a new construction from one day to the next.
Having woken up way too late and finally realising the poor perception that people have of their industry, they come up with a token action to try and moderate the unbelievable inconvenience happening around us. Oh, and by the way, Sliema and St. Julians exist too, you know. They actually have residents there and tourists and cars and children and homes and pets and the elderly.
The construction lobby and its buddies, the PA, were all so hot and ready to go, dishing out the permits left right and centre that they never stopped to make a holistic plan and put the community and the citizen at the centre of it. It is as though the urban areas are only one dimension - stone and mortar and no humans around. Well, I suppose that is in keeping with the eight cells not forming an embryo. And trees don’t count either, as we are seeing.
The rational thing to have done would be to have first put all the protection agencies in a good position to manage and deal with the anticipated escalation of permits and make sure that they had all the manpower and intensive scrutiny they needed to ensure that all practices would be in accordance with the law and a code of conduct.
Another would have been to form an agency between the PA/BRO and the local Councils, to give the councils a heads up on the volume of applications for cranes, demolition, excavation and the staff they would need to cover this service which is swallowing up so much of the customer service of councils, so that, again, business and construction end up coming before the individual and families. Not only, the cluster of cranes in a zone makes traffic planning essential and the provision of wardens, having been removed from the responsibility of the council, means too, that also Transport Malta should be included in this ad-hoc group that will be monitoring this exercise. Do Transport Malta realise that it can take one hour to go from Dragonara Road in Paceville to Portomaso or to just exit Swieqi in the morning?
On the contrary. Pembroke and St. George’s Bay will now have to face this nightmare as the developers go about the project with the same camouflage, with unrealistic claims of tunnels and planning regulations.
Whilst they are in the mode of finally reckoning with the public, would Identity Malta please also take a hint and show some consideration for our senior citizens who are waiting for their Carer to get their employment permit? It took 12 hours over 3 separate occasions to get the file stamped for application processing. Since then, already more than 3 weeks have passed without news. This when applicants are told that it takes 2 weeks for the processing of the documents. E-mails receive no reply either. Does the agency realise that many of the employers have Doctors’ certificates to confirm that they need this Carer before being allowed to return to the comfort of their homes, after surgery, or because they can no longer manage without supervision. This is a person’s life we are talking about here and the concern of their family who have to try to care for their relative in another way until the permit is issued.
Some find themselves grieving after the loss of their spouse, after years of marriage, so they are not only dealing with that pain, but also with the excessively demanding system to employ care. Such insensitivity is a shame. But, it appears, that only pensions and increases to pensions are what register in this government’s mind where the elderly are concerned.
Traffic congestion has reached epic proportions and now with Summer on our doorstep, it will only get worse. There are localities, where people can hardly cross the road without risking their life. No zebracrossing. No lights. Just weaving your way through the constant flow of cars.
Then there is the Gozo Channel, which has long passed its sell-by date on the standard of service it currently provides. Rather than trying to impress with fancy tunnels which will never be used at €10.00 each way – at least, not as a solution for Gozo residents to commute more easily to Malta – the time is way overdue to get Gozo Channel to provide new ferries and practically, nothing less than a shuttle service. A U-turn is probably the next likely scenario on the tunnel story. Then Joseph Muscat can say he was listening.
With this government everything gets done in reverse, if at all. What part of planning and resources do they find so hard to balance? They are like a first-time driver with a new car, speeding away, regardless of road regulations or pedestrians and no authority or agency that will instruct them. Do they think that this is how you impress?
Add the fireworks to this pandemonium and you have the perfect Summer cocktail.