DLH Six Presidents

For the first time in the fifty years of Din l-Art Helwa’s work to protect Malta’s environmental and cultural heritage, all six serving and former Presidents of the Association since its foundation have written a joint Open Letter addressed to the Prime Minister.  The Open Letter expresses a deep concern at the current state of the environment and the government’s plans for the future.

The six Presidents of Din l-Art Helwa appeal to the Prime Minister to ensure that his legacy to Malta is not remembered for the further and rapid degradation of the built and rural environment.

Din l-Art Helwa is concerned that the government has not drafted a solidly constructed new Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development and has only issued a list of objectives without the essential detailed policies that must underpin a Plan of this nature for it to succeed.

Malta has been left without a proper strategy for the future governance and good administration of its built and rural environment, thus inviting continued bad management and abuse to fester.

The government also intends to amend the legislation to enable the Strategic Plan to be approved by the Minister of Planning alone, without proper Parliamentary scrutiny. Given that the Plan involves a change of such social, economic and environmental importance, the attempt to bypass Parliament is a retrograde step which runs directly counter to the commitment to transparency and accountability which this government made on taking office.