George Pullicino explains Armier boathouses intention

The government has denied it has agreed with the owners of the illegal Armier boathouses to hand over land for the development of beach rooms.

The parliamentary secretary for the environment, George Pullicino, yesterday said the government was considering the feasibility of a project aimed at creating a camping site/village in Armier before it issued a call for tenders next year.

He denied that the government had at any stage promised the boathouse owners that they would be given preference in the adjudication process.

He said that the fact that the boathouse owners had set up Armier Developments Ltd to bid for the project meant that they had taken government advice to set up a company for this purpose.

"The fact that they have set up a company should not be taken to mean that they will be given advantage in the adjudication process."

Mr Pullicino explained that although the government had recognised that the boathouse owners should be given an adequate transitional period "at the end of the day we have to reach a situation where all the Maltese and Gozitan people will be on an equal footing and everyone will have the right to bid or apply for a beach room."

He explained that successive governments up to 1992 had closed an eye to the illegality of the boathouses and had given certain services and facilities to the illegal developments. The government was now determined to eliminate the problem in the national interest.

The proposed project, he said, would be beneficial for the environment because the developer would have to improve the landscaping of the area allocated for the development: "At the same time it will be beneficial for the present owners and the public. We want the area to be developed into a holiday village with proper soft and hard landscaping."

Going into the details of the proposed project, Mr Pullicino said that the developer awarded the tender would have to retain the present owners of the boathouses for a specific number of years with an agreed annual rent of around Lm250 annually. This would be the first phase of the transition period, he explained.

The second phase would include tendering for the facilities but the present owners would be given the right of first refusal so far as the rent agreed to be paid was concerned.

"After this transition period the present owners will lose any special rights over the property and everybody will be treated in an equal way. This means that we are prepared to reach the right balance between giving the present owners a transition period and ensuring that once this period is over, everyone will be treated the same.

"This point is not open to negotiation. We are prepared to continue talking with the present owners on the technical details, including the shape and form of the transition period as long as their demands are reasonable, but after a number of years, everyone will be treated the same."

Mr Pullicino said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was about to conclude its action plan on the proposed project.

There are about 1,200 people who own a boathouse in the area.

Armier Developments Ltd, set up by owners of the boathouses, said in a statement on Friday that the company was set up to enable the government to honour its pledge to hand over land at Armier to be developed for beach rooms.

Therefore, the company said, it was untrue that the government had not reached any form of agreement with the boathouse owners.