A court on Wednesday threw out an NGO's appeal to have the environmental impact assessment for Manoel Island nullified.

Environmental NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) filed the appeal last January after the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal ruled that the assessment, which was approved by Environmental Resources Authority (ERA) in 2021, was valid.

FAA insisted the assessment was not drawn up according to the law and should be revoked, but on Wednesday, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti refused their appeal and confirmed the Tribunal's decision.

The decision is the latest development in a series of controversies surrounding the proposed regeneration of Manoel Island.

What was the NGO's argument?

The FAA had appealed the assessment in 2021, saying it was fundamentally “a rehash of a previous report" that was flagged for a conflict of interest.

ERA had approved the Manoel Island project's environmental impact assessment earlier that year, after it had already annulled the initial assessment following NGO objections which noted that one of its principal expert contributors was the son of a MIDI plc director and sub-contractor to the same organisation.

But the FAA said little was changed for the second assessment, with no new terms of reference and therefore no public consultation phase required. And that is why it appealed the ERA's decision with the Tribunal.

FAA had also said that since the last assessment was submitted, MIDI, the company proposing the Manoel Island regeneration project, made it known that their plans for Manoel Island had changed radically.

If the plans have changed, then fresh terms of reference for the assessment are required, the FAA had said.

In their latest appeal to court, FAA argued, among other things, that when the tribunal ordered a new assessment to be drawn up, the developers should have started the process from scratch, instead of simply submitting a new version of the same document.

They also argued that the consultants and professionals commissioned to draw up the assessment cannot be independent and impartial if they are being paid to do the job by the developer.

What did the court say?

The court refused both arguments, saying the Tribunal was only asking for the submission of a new document, not for the process to start from scratch, and that the law obliges developers to commission the assessment and pay for it, meaning they cannot be accused of a conflict of interest if the law itself binds them to pay for the service.

The NGO also argued that the company commissioned to draw up the assessment did not sign a declaration of impartiality and independence, as it was lawfully bound to do.

The court acknowledged the fact but said it was not enough to nullify the report because the assessment was investigated by other independent authorities, all of which gave it the green light.

What is the Manoel Island project?

Manoel Island is set to be transformed under the terms of a masterplan with development consortium Midi, which plans to develop the area for mixed residential and commercial use.

According to revised plans presented by the company in 2021, around 55,000 square metres will be taken up by new buildings while 175,000 square metres will be reserved for open spaces accessible by the public.

The project has faced several hurdles over the past years, starting from a standoff with members of the public and activists over access to the foreshore that was subsequently resolved, through to a decision by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal to annul the project’s EIA, approved by ERA in August 2018, as well as the project’s outline development permit.

All works on the project were subsequently suspended following that EPRT decision.