Db Group has been given the go-ahead to complete its City Centre towers at the former ITS site in Pembroke after a court rejected a request filed by objectors to retry an appeal.
The decision ends a years-long legal battle against the project, which had been met with objections by Pembroke residents and environmental NGOs. Following the ruling, objectors said they are mulling further action.
The group now has the legal go-ahead to proceed with works to excavate the site overlooking St George's Bay and develop three towers that will rise to 17, 16 and 12 floors. The project will include high-end apartments, retail and commercial space and a hotel.
On Friday, Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff turned down the objectors' request for retrial. The judge noted that they had failed to prove that any elements of the law, that allowed for a retrial, had been breached.
Reacting to the court's decision, db Group said it was "deeply satisfied" that the eight-year "process of intense media, procedural and legal scrutiny" had come to an end.
"The court handed down a sentence giving us the green light to deliver on our promise… Never has a project in Malta been subjected to this extent of evaluation," a spokesperson for the group said.
"This is not meant to express rancour. On the contrary, we believe this arduous process made our project better and even more unique. For this, we heartily thank everyone, even our harshest critics, for helping us reimagine, rethink and refine where necessary, making a very good thing even better."
Db said it had accepted all "reasonable requests and criticism".
"As we promised all along, we listened, we acted. Now the time has come for us to complete this world-class project in the shortest time possible and with the least inconvenience to residents.”
A controversial project
Originally, db Group planned to build a massive 37-storey tower and 17-storey hotel at the site.
The Planning Authority approved those plans in 2018, having hired a private jet to fly in a board member specifically for the vote. The member - Jacqueline Gili - voted in favour.
Objectors continued to fight the permit and in 2019 a court revoked it after it was revealed that another PA board member who voted in favour - Matthew Pace - stood to financially benefit from that decision through a real estate agency he owned.
Db Group then revised its plans to downscale the project and resubmitted a planning application, which the PA granted in 2021 by a narrow 4-3 margin.
Objectors sought to overturn that decision at the Environment and Planning Tribunal (EPRT).
When they were unsuccessful, they turned to the law courts but last year Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti quashed the appeal.
The court concluded that the appeal was based on planning issues, rather than points of law.
While objectors were right to argue that the PA’s appeals tribunal - the EPRT - had incorrectly classified the Hotel Height Limitation Adjustment Policy and Floor-to-Area Policy, the appeal was not based on that premise, the court said.
The court concluded that those were not points of law but planning issues which had been addressed by the tribunal. The court could not decide on matters beyond its powers (ultra vires), and therefore rejected the appeal.
But the legal battle did not end there.
Some weeks later objectors sought the appeal to be retried.
The objectors - including Pembroke, St Julian's and Swieqi local councils, nine NGOs including Moviment Graffitti, Din l-Art Ħelwa and Friends of the Earth and 10 individuals - argued that Chief Justice Chetcuti applied the wrong law when he quashed their appeal.
In a legal filing by lawyer Claire Bonello, the objectors asked the court to strike off that sentence and rule on it afresh.
But, on Friday, Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff turned down their request for retrial.
Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Ian Stafrace represented db Group.
NGOs and residents not ruling out further action
Reacting to the ruling, residents and activists opposing the project said they were considering further avenues to defend the well-being of residents and the residential amenities of the locality.
They insisted the development would be blocking out sunlight and creating traffic havoc.
On Friday morning they said that both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal had ruled that no business or activity may operate from the site until Transport Malta certified the infrastructure adequate to sustain such an intensive development.
"We are holding Transport Malta to this even though we do not have any faith in the authorities - the same authorities have not put a stop to the tipper trucks that are being parked facing the wrong way, on pavements, on double yellow lines, bus stops and at every corner of Pembroke at all times of the day.
"These are the same authorities that have not put a stop to the DB takeover of a public square in Mellieħa. These are the same authorities that are allowing the same company to take over a beach in Qawra. The authorities refuse to enforce any conditions and do not protect residents or the public."
They warned they would hold the authorities to account "come what may".