‘Din l-Art Helwa’ shoots down high rise policy

Din l-Art Helwa yesterday shot down the new policy for highrise buildings approved by the government and published by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, saying, “It is ironic that the recently issued Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), which is intended to replace the Structure Plan and provide the vision for Malta until 2020, states that no further dwelling units are required and questions the need for further office development.

“This is therefore clearly a case of Mepa reacting to an unjustified need for high rise aris- ing from political pressure to appease certain lobby groups.”

The ultimate question, according to Din l-Art Helwa (DLH) and Mepa’s own advisers, is one of whether Malta “should embark on this journey for high rise or not should ultimately be decided by the citizens of this country and not by a select few”.

Statistical data should have formed part of this public consultation, the NGO contends, but this was clearly not the case with the policy.

DLH questioned how the basic conditions to ensure that such high-rise buildings are of a high-quality design would be fulfilled.

“While it is agreed by all that a proliferation of tall buildings of mediocre quality would completely destroy the Maltese landscape, there is absolutely no emphasis on quality design in the current proposals for the new planning regime which is expected to be in place following the proposed removal of the environment function from Mepa. The current experience of tall buildings in Malta, such as the existing building in Paola near the Addolorata cemetery, gives no reassurance that tall buildings will either improve or regenerate the surrounding areas,” it said. DLH also questioned the unexpected inclusion of Mriehel as a location for high-rise buildings: “This area was not included by Mepa in the draft policy it submitted for public consultation. The inclusion of a new area without first presenting it to the public (and environment organisations) for comments is unacceptable and undermines the whole public consultation process which Mepa has successfully developed over the past decade.

“Din l-Art Helwa therefore re- quests that this area should be withdrawn entirely from the adopted high-rise policy and that a separate public consultation process be carried out on whether or not Mriehel should become a location for high-rise buildings.”

It also asked why Mepa has now reduced the site area required for medium rise by the private sector outside the identified strategic zones, from 5,000 square metres to 4,000 square metres, pointing out that, “This is a significant change and the reasons for it should be adequately justified to the public.”