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SHOWCASEMALTA
EXPO 2020 DUBAI
Environment in Malta
The carrot is stronger than the stick If, as Charles René Mackintosh said, art is encapsulated by the flower and life by the leaf, then Minister Aaron Farrugia certainly has life in his crosshairs. Speaking to Showcase Dubai, the minister responsible for the environment portfolio gave a 360° viewpoint of how his ultimate vision for a sustainable and greener Malta can be achieved – and the vision was an exciting one.
G
reenification is high on the agenda of Minister for the environment Aaron Farrugia. In his typically direct and no-nonsense approach, he was adamant, throughout the interview, of the need for the country to sharpen its focus on the colour green. “Greenification needs a substantial investment, similar to what has been ploughed into road infrastructure. We need a strategic and planned approach to landscaping our cities, similar to what happens in other countries,” said Minister Farrugia.
When stone goes green
Planning to go green in this way is a major challenge but it is also a case of making lemonade out of lemons, the lemons being the issues raised by the construction industry. Minister Farrugia minces no words. The recently published Quintano Report had identified various weak links in the construction industry and all the major stakeholders had gone on record accepting the report as seminal. “We will be adopting the recommendations of the Quintano Report, we will be updating the Structure Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), we have published a Rural Policy for consultation and we are working in the direction of sustainability,” listed Minister Farrugia. These four elements, in themselves, should provide an excellent basis for an overhaul in the construction industry, but they were not enough for Minister Farrugia. Conscious of the moans of those whose eyes water at the sight of crudely designed buildings, the minister said that work is at an advanced stage on the compilation of a policy on aesthetics. “We are also planning on giving financial assistance and incentives to those who design development which is more sensitive and pleasing. We have, indeed, already implemented incentives for those who green their façades,” said Minster Farrugia. There is a caveat: comprehensive development will become mandatory. With laws of inheritance in Malta following the Mediterranean rather than the Nordic legal concepts, land fragmentation has not only affected agriculture but, nowadays, also construction. The minister was adamant that comprehensive construction is a way in which the discomfort caused by development in residential areas can be ring-fenced to a minimum number of months. “And we shall also be giving incentives for this to happen,” pointed out Minster Farrugia. Growing Malta
The rate of construction in Malta has accelerated exponentially over the past few years. This has brought several beneficial spin-offs but also, inevitably, some challenges. A major challenge has been the disposal of construction waste. “We cannot keep on digging holes and re-filling them with construction waste,” said Minister Farrugia, referring to the current practice of the re-use of stone quarries as construction landfills. Looking to the future, the minister had a more creative solution: land reclamation. This solution has been successfully applied in various countries and with different end-products: from the residential model such as Dubai to the afforestation and nature conservation model such
j We will be adopting the
recommendations of the Quintano Report, we will be updating the Structure Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED), we have published a Rural Policy for consultation and we are working in the direction of sustainability
