Prime Minister Robert Abela and Transport Minister Ian Borg have both said they agreed with comments by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who opposed the current plans for a yacht marina at Marsascala. 

The health minister earlier told Times of Malta that the undeveloped area around the bay should remain "as is" while the berthing area should be reorganised, taking into consideration the village’s traditions as well as those who have their moorings there.

Robert Abela speaking to journalists on Tuesday

Plans published by the government in the summer show a completely different picture with much of the bay taken up by the marina. 

Abela said he had spoken, in the summer, about how developers had to follow certain principles, failing which the project would not go ahead.

Those principles and the regeneration of Marsascala could live together, but the overlying principle was that the residents would be heard, he said. That too had happened in the case of the American University of Malta, which was revised but still retained.

Separately, Transport Minister Ian Borg on Tuesday also insisted that he and the government agreed with every word which Fearne had said.

However he brushed off questions on whether he will revise the Marsascala marina plans. 

He also attacked the opposition’s stance against the marina, saying the party has no credibility when it comes to speaking about marinas. 

“Before, the Nationalist Party one moment said they agreed that the Birgu Yacht Marina was not a good idea, yet the moment they were appointed into government, the first thing they did was build the Birgu marina," he said.

Borg said the government will communicate with the local council on the way forward.

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