Falzon`s legacy lives on in Luqa

Abstract

Another dawn... same old script... more Outside development Zone (ODZ) development being approved on the flimsiest of pretexts, with few batting an eyelid. During a Save the Countryside debate organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa last year, then parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon had challenged those present to mention at least one large ODZ development, barring the Żonqor one, that had been approved so far under his watch. By applying such an arbitrary threshold, Falzon shrewdly drew a blank from those present and managed to steer the public gaze away from the ongoing piecemeal and unremitting encroachment in ODZ areas by agricultural stores, pump rooms, agrotourism facilities, fireworks factories and other developments.