Updated 1.30pm with PA reaction

By green-lighting the building of a hotel at Saqqajja hill in Rabat the authorities are repeating the same mistake they did when they gave the go-ahead for the Excelsior Hotel, obliterating historical bastions, eNGOs are warning.

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and Moviment Graffitti sounded the warning on Friday morning, after the planning board voted to grant the new hotel application an executable permit on the condition that geotechnical studies are carried out.

The PA's decision on Thursday also binds the contractors to fulfil all conditions set out by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Planning Authority.

The project will see the old Tattingers nightclub demolished, to make way for an 81-room five-star hotel.

Objections to the plans cited geological concerns that the works could damage Mdina’s fortifications and impact the skyline of the silent city.

On Friday, FAA and Graffitti warned that the height of this building within the Area of High Landscape Value of Mdina, will have a massive visual impact on the entrance to Rabat and Mdina, obliterating the old capital's bastions.

"Malta is a small island with fascinating geology, iconic and centuries-old built heritage and landscape that is being ruined by unsuitable construction proposals.

"Malta’s politicians are repeating the same mistake as with the Excelsior Hotel intruding on Valletta’s bastions. Like the Excelsior, this will be a scar on our heritage landscape that future generations will forever curse."

'Archaeology will be uncovered'

FAA and Graffitti also said they were extremely concerned about what will happen when the buildings are pulled down and the rock cutting starts within the glacis of the scheduled fortifications of Mdina, "which are notoriously unstable".  

"The proposed basement is several meters below street level so there is little doubt that archaeology will be uncovered. A PA director had, in the past, stated that conditions attached to permits were simply a screen, since the authority did not have the resources to ensure that the conditions were respected.

"To declare that archaeological monitoring will take place after the permit is granted, simply means that the findings will be recorded, covered up, built over or destroyed. That is, if they are identified at all. Bulldozers and heavy excavators are not going to halt when valuable historical remnants are uncovered, Once the permit is given there's no stopping the construction." 

The two organisations said that numerous, studied objections to the new hotel project had been ignored by the planning board.

They claimed the project had the clearance of the Lands Authority, which had "transferred the public land to the politically-connected hotel owner mysteriously behind closed doors, with no public call in a fair tender process".
 
"The driving force behind the hotel proposal, the owners of the former Tattingers club with their long history of enforcements on that very land, are handed a lucrative new lease for a further profit spree, at the cost of Maltese cultural heritage. The heritage of Malta is yet again sold for private speculative gain," they added.

PA reacts

In a reaction on Friday afternoon, the PA "reassured" people that the board "took note of the concerns"  raised about the excavation of the site and the repercussions on any potential archaeological remains.

It had granted the permit on the premise that various archaeological and geological studies have to be carried out before any excavation works on site. A bank guarantee of €50,000 was also imposed to serve as a deterrent. 

"Throughout yesterday’s public hearing, there was general consent that the project is a better architectural solution from the existing incoherent mixture of buildings that merit no kind of protection but degrade the character of their surroundings.

"Having said that, the board still kept the design of the hotel, as a reserved matter, and called for the applicant to improve the overall design to ensure that the building is more homogenous with the surrounding area.  The new design will need to be approved by the board."

The authority denied claims that the height of the approved building was going to leave a massive visual impact on the entrance to Rabat and Mdina.

"The height and massing of the approved project will be of similar proportions to the rest of the street, achieving a good transition and blending well to create a natural and unimposing skyline.

"With respect to issues of land ownership, the Authority wanted to clarify that this falls outside its remit," it added.