Updated at 2.10pm
A draft deal to hand over hundreds of thousands of square metres of land to the Corinthia Group to develop into a six-star hotel, apartments and retail space in St Julian’s has been sent back to the drawing board.
Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi was forced to withdraw the plans, which were only presented to parliament last December, following vociferous opposition from the Opposition, business leaders and environmental activists.
In a letter sent to deputy prime minister Chris Fearne, who also chairs parliament’s National Audit Office accounts committee, Dr Mizzi said he was withdrawing those plans and would be presenting fresh ones “in the coming days”.
Read: Corinthia to pay just €17m for peninsula
The original plans would have seen Corinthia Group receive the huge tract of prime real estate on a 99-year lease for just €17 million, and allowed the group to develop parts of it for speculation purposes.
Just two weeks ago, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Labour supporters that the proposal would be part of a “giant leap ” for Malta and its tourism offering.
Vociferous critics
But the plans were received far less enthusiastically by other sectors of society.
Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia said the land was being given away for a pittance, and called for the deal to be renegotiated.
In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, the PN said its pressure had paid off.
"We won't let thee government rob the people and give this land away for nothing. This is money which could be used for social housing, pensions or transport infrastructure," the party said.
The Labour Party reacted by saying that the government had listened to critics and would be "improving its proposal", while Opposition leader Adrian Delia was just not credible.
"He criticises the government if it moves forward, and criticises if it consults," the PL said.
Environmental groups vocally opposed the project, and the Church’s environment commission issued a statement warning against “vain promises” of progress made by developers – a pointed reference to Corinthia Group chairman Alfred Pisani, who had defended the plans on state TV.
An anonymous group of entrepreneurs wrote to all MPs to argue that the deal would confer an unfair advantage on the Corinthia Group’s parent company and violate EU state aid rules.
Minister Mizzi presented an overview of the government’s plans during a meeting of parliament’s environment committee last week, revealing that land reclamation rights – which The Sunday Times of Malta had revealed were part of the draft deal – were no longer being considered.
The government has so far resisted calls to publish a Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the Corinthia Group for the project back in 2015.
Moviment Graffiti hails partial success
In a statement, activist group Moviment Graffiti - which is among the groups leading the charge against the proposed project - celebrated the news.
“We are fully aware this is not a final decision, but this remains an important milestone”.
“We will fight on against the theft of public land by the private sector that will endanger not only the environment, but also the Maltese people’s quality of life,” the group added.
Moviment Graffiti struck an optimistic note.
“Today’s events have yet again proven that a movement of people united together, beyond partisan divisions, can be an important force in the fight against those who want to turn Malta into their private fiefdom,” it said.