The 100-odd families living at Buontempo Estate in Balzan Valley, Balzan find themselves in a quandary. The Local Council – whose mission it is to see to the rights, needs and well-being of ALL the members of its community – continues to treat these residents as aliens living on a different planet. The Council maintains that the estate, according to the Lands Department, is still private and as such they can’t be bothered to look into any complaints brought up by residents there, and the usual community services enjoyed by all other Balzan citizens, do not apply in their case.
We residents, on the other hand, strongly maintain that the locality ceased to remain private when the previous owners, the Buontempo family, sold all their properties here and the area expanded considerably with the building of new private residences, the provision of government utility services, etc. This is confirmed by members of the Buontempo family themselves, as well as by Malta Environment and Planning Authority records.
And yet, the Local Council maintains its stand that as long as the Lands Department show the area as Private, the citizens of Buontempo Estate have no right to enjoy any safeguards, protection and services from the Council. Or from the Police for that matter. The police persistently ignore any reports or complaints we submit as they claim that they have no jurisdiction, since the estate, according to the Local Coucil, is private.
And so we unfortunate citizens of this alien little planet called Buontempo Estate have to put up with innumerable discomforts and illegalities, such as:
• Vehicles parked haphazardly, a number of them dumped for months on end without a valid ADT road licence.
• A water bowser (probably unlicensed) that for years has been pumping up fresh water from an underground reservoir, generally making a mess and ruining the street surface.
• Lack of traffic signs, as a result of which hundreds of cars enter the cul-de-sac thinking that the road leads to Balzan village.
• An unkempt road which has not seen any repairs for these past 30 years.
• A distinct lack of street-cleaning services.
I am very optimistic that the Balzan Local Council will give this plea-letter the consideration it deserves and seriously takes the matter of verifying the status of the area in hand with the Lands Department. Hopefully the citizens of Buontempo Estate look forward to the day when they start being treated like all other Balzan citizens.
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