Surprise, surprise, we finally have “New Regulations for Construction Sites Management”. Not only that, but they became applicable immediately, from last Thursday.

After years dragging their feet, somebody suddenly got their skates on. Do you think this might have something to do with vote chasing?

From now on, “A covered walkway should allow sufficient space to ensure accessibility to the public, pushchairs and persons with special needs,” we were told in a half page advert, showing a photo of one of the wider construction walkways I have come across, one where people are not obliged to walk in single file.

I will not go into the merits of the way this message was relayed, i.e., referring to people with special needs as separate from the public, because that might be seen as pedantic.

But, it is not only covered walkways that should ensure accessibility. How many times have you seen people, including those in wheelchairs and those pushing pushchairs forced onto roads with busy traffic because the entire pavement, except for a few centimetres, had been taken over by the construction site boundary wall?

And is the environment ministry also going to do something about the same lack of accessibility on pavements at the Ferries, the Strand and elsewhere, taken over by catering establishments?

The new building regulations in force now, oblige the owner to “submit a bank guarantee, which will be used to finance the repair or replacement of the street pavement if owner fails to do so on completion of works”.

I know that pavement encroachment by catering establishments does not fall under construction management, but the problem is part and parcel of environmental nuisance to the public and needs to be dealt with.

So are the catering establishments who have abused their footprint going to be similarly pressured to give back the pavements to the public domain?

As for the bank guarantee, forgive me for being cynical, but does not MEPA have a long standing similar principle for developers, whereby those who do not provide garage spaces for flat buyers in high-density areas have to forfeit a certain amount of cash, which is held at MEPA?

And what improvement have we seen in that area? None is the answer. On the contrary MEPA creates further problems by allowing change of use of garages from parking to storage in high density areas, by not holding environmental impact assessments and by allowing commercial activities stretching well into the night, which generate a lot more traffic, parking problems in residential streets, not to mention the introduction of scores of air conditioners, which drone on all day and all night adding to the noise.

And what has happened to the money? It certainly has not gone to alleviating parking problems in residential streets.

We were also promised residents parking bays years ago. The only residents to get it, as far as I am aware, are Valletta residents, although that was done only lately to appease them and compensate for the hassle Valletta residents are faced with because of the new traffic arrangements. And even then some areas in the city have been passed over.

Anyway, let’s get back to the new construction site regulations. The objectives of these new regulations are to “minimise nuisance to neighbours and the public; reduce discharges to the environment, including dust and spillage of building materials and improve the visual impact of construction sites and their immediate environment”.

More public appeasement, but before you start heaving a sigh of relief, the regulations are only targeting large projects to start with, so if you are being driven mad by a DIY maniac, who insists on rebuilding his house every few months, or several small cowboys on small developments in your area, who work weekends and very early in the morning, tough luck!

I also think that clarification is needed on the last paragraph of the advert giving us the news of these long-awaited regulations.

The localities of Marsalforn in Gozo and Gzira, Marsascala, Mellieha, Sliema, St Julian’s, St Paul’s Bay, Swieqi and Valletta on the mainland “are being designated as areas of high development intensity, the boundaries of which are those that may prevail, from time to time, in the Local Councils’ Act”.

What on earth does that mean? Is this a loophole, whereby local councils can by pass the regulations at their discretion?

I hope I am wrong, but the guest house owner in St Julian’s, who said he might have to close down his establishment “due to the number of complaints from guests regarding unacceptable levels of noise and vibration and uncivilised working hours” at a nearby building site, had better check this out before deciding to stay open after the new regulations came into force.

Another complaint the gentleman had was that he had repeatedly asked enforcement officers to prevent work from starting before 9 am in the summer, but since the end of September work, has restarted as early as 7.10 am. Calls to MEPA’s complaints department to request that representatives monitor the noise and vibration had not been returned.

Unless that attitude changes we can have as many regulations and environment field inspectors as we like, it will only take a few weeks for the developers to realise that all we are getting is yet another set of barking rules with no bite.

Twenty-five new environment field inspectors (ex-dockyard employees from Industrial Projects and Services Ltd and engaged by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority) and six MEPA planning enforcement officers have been entrusted to enforce the regulations.

Time will no doubt tell if these officers will be efficient and have the necessary back up to do the job.

They have been advised by the Minister, George Pullicino, to adopt a softly, softly approach as he believes the industry was not likely to change its modus operandi overnight!

Now it is not that I disagree with the “softly, softly” principle, what I find baffling is that ordinary citizens are treated with no civility and common sense over traffic and other minor offences and the big tough boys are going to be treated with kid gloves.

It is the inconsistencies I cannot stomach. The strong with weak and weak with the strong philosophy, which is something MEPA is renowned for.

On Friday morning I called the number the public is encouraged to call in the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment advert, for clarification on the paragraph mentioned above re the designated areas of high development intensity.

The call was answered promptly by a polite and efficient woman who took my number and said she would get back to me with a response, but I did not get one.

Finally getting these regulations in place is positive. Better very, very late than never, but unless they are properly enforced, we shall not see any improvement. Besides, environmental nuisance and pollution need to be tackled holistically and not in piecemeal fashion.

Although the construction industry certainly needed to be reined in, there is still a lot to be done with regard to air and noise pollution. We need strong, unequivocal legislation, to bring the Criminal Code up to date, tenacious enforcement and substantial punitive measures if we are to seriously tackle environmental problem areas.

pamelapacehansen@gmail.com