Do not destroy our legacies
Published on The Sunday Times of Malta on Sunday 1st July, 2007 by Mr Leo Cauchi.
The Ramla and Hondoq projects are opportunities to further enrich those who are already rich! This victimised area should be looked on as the legacy of the Maltese and Gozitans, to be enjoyed as places of relaxation and unspoilt natural beauty.
Since the Hondoq project is still a hot issue, the Ramla project is adding insult to injury! It is symbolically accurate to open up a cemetery on the Ramla road for this cemetery, with the proposed villas, will be the death of the bay as we know it.
And who will afford these houses at Hondoq? Not the average newlyweds who are trying to start out in life, but the super rich who, I am sure, already have a house to live in.
Why buy them? To satisfy their egocentric desire for a status symbol to set them above the common man! Next, I wouldn't be surprised if this segregation is taken a further step by having the beaches, or at least parts of them, privatised as has already happened in some places.
There was once a 'scramble for Africa' by the superpowers, ready to suck the colonies dry to enrich themselves. That scramble had left serious consequences on the colonies.
Now we are seeing something similar - a scramble for prime real estate for certain developers to further enrich themselves; this too will have serious consequences on the environment and on the people.
I was recently at Hondoq swimming with a tourist friend. It was heaven until two speedboats turned up showing off. The exhaust fumes and noise pollution destroyed that heaven. If two boats could do that, then what will a yacht marina do?
I agree that these places, especially Hondoq, could do with a 'facelift' but what is being proposed is an absolute, irreversible face transplant! Do not destroy our legacies.
The Ramla and Hondoq projects are opportunities to further enrich those who are already rich! This victimised area should be looked on as the legacy of the Maltese and Gozitans, to be enjoyed as places of relaxation and unspoilt natural beauty.
Since the Hondoq project is still a hot issue, the Ramla project is adding insult to injury! It is symbolically accurate to open up a cemetery on the Ramla road for this cemetery, with the proposed villas, will be the death of the bay as we know it.
And who will afford these houses at Hondoq? Not the average newlyweds who are trying to start out in life, but the super rich who, I am sure, already have a house to live in.
Why buy them? To satisfy their egocentric desire for a status symbol to set them above the common man! Next, I wouldn't be surprised if this segregation is taken a further step by having the beaches, or at least parts of them, privatised as has already happened in some places.
There was once a 'scramble for Africa' by the superpowers, ready to suck the colonies dry to enrich themselves. That scramble had left serious consequences on the colonies.
Now we are seeing something similar - a scramble for prime real estate for certain developers to further enrich themselves; this too will have serious consequences on the environment and on the people.
I was recently at Hondoq swimming with a tourist friend. It was heaven until two speedboats turned up showing off. The exhaust fumes and noise pollution destroyed that heaven. If two boats could do that, then what will a yacht marina do?
I agree that these places, especially Hondoq, could do with a 'facelift' but what is being proposed is an absolute, irreversible face transplant! Do not destroy our legacies.
posted by Hondoq at
8:06 PM
