Time for a decision on Ħondoq ir-Rummien

Published on the Malta Independent on Sunday, 27th May, 2012 by James A. Tyrrell. 

Decisions are being made at the moment regarding the future of the Hondoq project application and I feel it is important that this issue is kept in the public eye in order to ensure that things do not happen behind people’s backs, as has been the case in the past. I am referring, of course, to events that occurred back in 2002, when the entire area earmarked by the developers for the marina project belonged to the government. It had been expropriated, along with the reverse osmoses plant and the land on which it stands.

Then, for some reason, the land in question was returned to the owner by President Guido de Marco. Shortly after it was returned, Mepa received an application to build a yacht marina, a hotel and 283 villas, flats and bungalows. Coincidence? Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences and my suspicions are given weight by the fact that this area – which up to this point had been Outside Development Zone (ODZ) – was suddenly changed to a tourist and marine-related activities area, again behind the backs of Qala local council.

It should also be remembered that not all the land was returned, as the reverse osmoses plant and the land on which it stands still belongs to the government. Is this why the developers earmarked this area for a car park, so as not to hold up the main project in case there was some problem with it being handed over?

At the time this application was sent to Mepa, Qala local council had already applied for a permit to turn the area into a national park, so Mepa was well aware that the local council had plans for the area. We also need to remember that the results of a referendum carried out in 2002 showed that 85 per cent of people were against the marina project.

We now need to look at December 2009, when Qala local council, Moviment Harsien Hondoq (MHH) and Flimkien ghal Ambjent (FAA) organised a competition for university student architects to show what they would do with the area. They decided that the old reverse osmoses plant should be turned into a youth hostel and submitted plans for the rest of the area which were absolutely stunning. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L_aXqa5eJU&feature=related

We now come to the present, where we recently learned that the Mepa Environment Protection Directorate (EPD) had recommended refusal of the Hondoq project application, a decision that was welcomed by all those concerned. In order to counter this objection, the developers submitted a fresh application omitting the marina and substituting it with a “swimming lagoon”. A “swimming lagoon”, by the way – and in case you’re wondering – is a marina before the boats are allowed in! We have to remember here that the developers themselves said that the whole project would either stand or fall on the marina being part of it, so what has changed?

Now, as someone familiar with the area I cannot imagine what it would be like with an extra 2,000 vehicles a day (that’s an average of an additional 83 vehicles an hour) trying to get through the village. That is the estimated number that would be generated, once this development is finished. We also have to consider probably two years of heavy-vehicle traffic during the construction phase, bringing with it high quantities of dust and vehicle emission levels.

With regard to the so-called impartial Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), it turned out to read like an advert for the area’s development! Hondoq ir-Rummien belongs to the people of Qala in particular, the people of Malta in general and to all the tourists who flock there every year to enjoy its beautiful waters. It does not belong to money-grabbing developers whose only interest is in lining their pockets. To that end, people have a choice: they can either fight for what they know is right or they can roll over and show their bellies to the land rapists. The choice is now up to them.