A court has annulled a Planning Authority permit that allowed Transport Malta to develop offices and a restaurant along the Gżira Marina and Ta’ Xbiex promenade.

In a judgment on Wednesday, a court of appeal presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti noted that Transport Malta had a massive conflict of interest because it had acted as both applicant and a reviewer of the permit. 

The transport regulator was one of various official stakeholders consulted by the PA on the project. In its decision, the court said an independent transport reviewer should have been assigned to that role.  

The court of appeal also noted that part of the proposed project was due to take up public land, without any other public land offered as compensation for that. 

The approved plan (PA/00680/22), led by architect Antoine Zammit, was to build a “capitainerie” that covered 500 square metres of space between the Gżira gardens and the yacht marina. The plan was to transform the area into an area with office space and meeting rooms, a retail outlet, a restaurant, and an outdoor catering area.

After the permit was approved by the PA in 2023, appellants filed an appeal with the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT). That appeal was rejected in October 2024 and objectors - led by residents and NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) - then took their appeal to court, which handed down its judgement on Wednesday.

Works on the site have already started, having begun following the PA's original permit approval in 2023.

A computer-generated render of the proposal as presented by Transport Malta.

Currently, the law allows applicants to begin construction, even if the development might be subject to appeal, as long as the EPRT does not decide to suspend works. In this case, the tribunal did not suspend works, so the applicant began the development.

FAA welcomed Wednesday's court judgement and called for the “immediate dismantling of the Capitanerie building, stretching across the promenade, which is structurally almost complete”.

The NGO added that the government needs to implement the law that halts construction whenever a permit is under appeal, which it promised back in 2023.

PN welcomes court's decision

The Nationalist Party welcomed the court's decision.

"This decision confirms the serious abuse occurring within the planning sector, where institutions meant to protect the public interest are being exploited by the Labour Government to benefit the few," the party said in a statement.

"Once again, the court reprimanded the Planning Authority, which the Labour Government has reduced to nothing more than a Permits Authority, for completely ignoring planning regulations and procedures to issue a permit that should never have been granted," the party observed.

It had also condemned Transport Malta for lacking integrity and transparency by acting as a consultant to provide professional and technical advice on the merits of a development for which it was itself the applicant.

The PN said it expects the Planning Authority not to stand idly by in the wake of this permit revocation, as it did in other cases such as the swimming pool case involving Minister Ian Borg, but to take the actions required by law to truly deliver justice.

"This case once again exposes how Robert Abela says one thing and does another. Even though this application was still pending appeal, Transport Malta continued with the works despite Abela’s promise two years ago that any permit under appeal would be suspended until a final decision was reached, the party said.

The PN said when in government it would launch a radical reform and implement a complete re-engineering process for the Planning Authority, ensuring it was independent of politicians and speculators.

"This will transform the Planning Authority and all public authorities into fair and just institutions," it said.