Delay Excelsior Hotel extension hearing over UNESCO bid, NGO says
Proposed extension includes an eight-storey block
Din l-Art Ħelwa has called on the government and the Planning Authority to postpone next week's hearing on the proposed extension of the Grand Hotel Excelsior, warning that a decision now could jeopardise Malta's bid to expand the UNESCO World Heritage status of the Knights' fortifications.
The hearing on the long-pending controversial application (PA/10444/18) is scheduled for July 16. The proposed development includes a new eight-storey block.
The heritage NGO said the request was prompted by Malta's nomination to extend the UNESCO World Heritage Site boundaries beyond Valletta to include the Knights' harbour fortifications, a proposal currently being assessed by UNESCO's advisory body, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
An ICOMOS technical mission recently visited Malta to assess the nomination and is expected to submit its report in the coming weeks.
Din l-Art Ħelwa argued that the Heritage Impact Assessment carried out for the Excelsior project in Floriana only considered the existing World Heritage Site boundary, which covers Valletta, and therefore failed to assess the implications of the government's proposed extension, formally submitted to UNESCO in January.
The proposed enlarged World Heritage Site would include the Marsamxett harbour fortifications, directly overlooking the site earmarked for the hotel extension.
"It defies logic and common sense to take a final decision on a project of this scale at a moment when UNESCO experts are actively evaluating the very heritage values that this development could compromise," Din l-Art Ħelwa executive president Patrick Calleja said.
"The Heritage Impact Assessment is fundamentally outdated. It is based on the old terms of reference and fails to consider the immense new significance of the site within the proposed expanded World Heritage property. To proceed now is to gamble with Malta's international reputation and the success of our own nomination."
Din l-Art Ħelwa noted that both the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Planning Authority's Design Advisory Committee had previously concluded the extension would have an "unacceptable" visual impact on Valletta's fortifications.
It also pointed out that the Heritage Impact Assessment itself acknowledges the project would have moderate adverse impacts on the visual integrity of Valletta, its historic urban landscape and the wider setting of the World Heritage city.