ADPD: Marsascala must not become another victim of property speculation

ADPD has warned that Marsascala risks being further reshaped by property speculation and short-term rentals unless residents are given a stronger say over development in their locality.

Speaking next to St Thomas Tower, with the derelict former Jerma Palace Hotel site in the background, ADPD public relations officer Brian Decelis said the future of the site had become a symbol of a wider problem facing the coastal town.

Decelis, a Marsascala resident and electoral candidate on the third and fourth districts, said the debate was not only about whether the former hotel should be redeveloped, but about who Marsascala was being developed for.

He referred to a recent academic study, Tourism, Real Estate, and Urban Pressures: The case of Marsascala, Malta, which argues that the locality has entered a phase of “real estateisation”.

The study says Marsascala has moved beyond tourism-led development into a stage where real estate speculation, investment apartments and short-term rentals are reshaping the town.

It traces the locality’s evolution from a fishing village into a densely urbanised coastal town facing overdevelopment, infrastructure strain and a declining quality of life.

Decelis said those pressures were already visible to residents.

“For years, Marsascala residents have been suffering the brunt of overdevelopment,” he said, echoing concerns he previously raised about construction, traffic, pressure on public space and the need for residents to be consulted before major decisions are taken.

He said residents were not all of one mind about the former Jerma site. Some wanted a quality hotel that could contribute to the local economy, while others feared another large-scale speculative project that would add more apartments and pressure to an already strained locality.

But Decelis said many residents were asking the same basic question: “Who is Marsascala being developed for?”

ADPD said the answer should favour long-term residents and future generations, not speculative interests.

The party said residential units should primarily serve as homes, rather than as financial instruments, and argued that coastal communities could not continue absorbing development while infrastructure, open space and social cohesion deteriorated.

ADPD is proposing stronger local control over short-term rentals, including giving local councils veto powers over short-let accommodation permits. It also wants revenue generated from tourism accommodation to be directed towards local councils and infrastructure.

Decelis said local communities understood the impact of tourism and short-let accommodation better than “distant authorities or developers”.

ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci said the party’s 2026 manifesto called for a new economic model based on quality of life, environmental protection, affordable housing, stronger planning rules and community-centred development.

“Marsascala needs more public open spaces, safer mobility, protection of its coastline, and planning policies that respect carrying capacity,” Gauci said.

“It does not need more speculation disguised as progress.”

She said Malta’s political establishment had normalised a system in which every available space was treated as a development opportunity and every locality as a market to be monetised.

The consequences, Gauci said, were visible in rising rents, worsening traffic, the loss of community identity and frustration among residents.

“A vote for ADPD is a message that Malta’s localities are not for sale,” she said.