Petra Caruana Dingli

  by Petra Caruana Dingli As a scenic landscape, the Gozo-Comino channel is one of Malta’s most beautiful and outstanding assets. This must be a prime consideration in any discussions or studies about the proposed construction of a bridge spanning over the 5 km channel, which is currently being promoted by the government. The idea is for Gozo...

by Petra Caruana Dingli A few years ago the government had decided to move the National Museum of Fine Arts to the large Auberge d’Italie in Merchants Street. The national budget for 2012 allocated 200,000 euros to the project and plans for the move of the museum were set in motion. The Auberge has spacious rooms...

by Petra Caruana Dingli No additional funds for the management of protected areas in the countryside have been given to the Environment Ministry in the budget for 2014. Nothing new, you might say, the funds were never enough and this is just the same old story. Well, not quite, because in early 2014 the management plans...

    by Petra Caruana Dingli The MEPA Board has approved the demolition of three very old houses right next to the Naxxar parish church. They reasoned that the houses are dilapidated and do not “lend themselves to the current social and economic needs”. They considered that the village cores should...

by Petra Caruana Dingli An ‘Opinion Paper‘ published this week by the environmental arm of the Maltese church, the Kummissjoni Interdjocesana Ambjent, does not pull its punches. Will the government take note? Don’t hold your breath. The Kummissjoni picks up where it left off in an earlier paper of 2007, and joins a growing number of...

by Petra Caruana Dingli Every now and again we are reminded that the development boundaries are not going to be extended, such as this week on Reporter. If this is repeated often enough, people might believe that the areas outside the development zones (ODZ) are secure. This is not to say that the boundaries are unimportant –...

by Petra Caruana Dingli While the ‘Notte Bianca’ event held on Saturday attracted crowds into Valletta, the Independent reminded its readers that the city has so much more potential to attract people in the evenings throughout the year, and was concerned that Valletta is often a ‘dark and silent’ place at night. I agree absolutely that...

by Petra Caruana Dingli A new planning policy, which will allow hotels to build as many floors as they like, is currently being drawn up by the hoteliers themselves. This is blatantly wrong. Consult hotel owners and other industry stakeholders extensively by all means, but nobody should take decisions on planning matters of any kind in which...