None of the projects mentioned by the Prime Minister when he announced the setting up of the St George’s Bay Regeneration Corporation have applied for a permit, a government spokesman has confirmed.
Two days before the Budget speech, Joseph Muscat announced that a new corporation would be set up to facilitate at least three major projects and prevent the popular area from becoming a “permanent construction site”.
He said the St George’s Bay Regeneration Corporation was needed because the projects would cause chaos if not coordinated properly.
Though he spoke of three projects in his announcement, Dr Muscat only referred to the six-star complex planned to replace the existing Corinthia and Radisson hotels.
But a search for more details by this newspaper brought to light two new development projects.
One consists of a hotel, commercial and residential units on the site of St George’s Park, in Paceville. The other is an extension of the proposed massive development in St George’s Bay by developer Anton Camilleri, known as Tal-Franċiz, who is a council member of the Malta Developers Association.
These developments are in addition to plans by International Hotel Investments plc, a Corinthia company, for a six-star complex consisting of two new luxury hotels, a beachfront resort and a lifestyle hotel for corporate visitors. The development includes residential apartment buildings and commercial and retail activity.
The developers of the three projects – St George’s Park, Villa Rosa and the six-star complex – have not yet applied for permits.
They were still having talks with the planning authority on the projects, though the government was including them in the plans for the area’s “regeneration”, the spokesman confirmed.
The hotel proposed by Mr Camilleri at the Villa Rosa site is an extension of a massive project being considered by Mepa. It includes an additional wedding hall and parking facility in the site’s gardens.
The rest of Mr Camilleri’s development project starts from the top of the promenade where St George’s Bay Hotel is located, includes Dolphin House and Moynihan House and extends to the bay all the way to Cresta Quay.
The Institute for Tourism Studies will also move to Smart City, so the building it vacates in St George’s Bay can be used for tourism purposes.
It is not yet clear what the plans are for the ITS site and what kind of development will be involved. The newspaper Illum yesterday reported that a five-star hotel would be built on the site.
The plan to move the institute was announced after the government repeatedly denied claims the building would be sold when this newspaper had asked about it in September last year.
The plan to have a State corporation coordinating the massive development projects has been described as a “pleasant surprise” by key players in the tourism industry.
However, in comments to this newspaper earlier this month they cautioned that the government needed to tread carefully so as not to create additional layers of bureaucracy that would make the move self-defeating.
The devil may be in the detail
“This is fantastic news for us but the devil may be in the detail,” the President of the Malta Hotels and Restaurant Association, Tony Zahra, had said.
But sources said the number of projects in St George’s Bay would see the area turned into a “war zone of development” and the proposed corporation would hardly be able to address the problem, which stems from too much development taking place at once.
Asked to justify the setting up of the corporation when permits have not yet been approved, the government spokesman said even one of the projects in question would require coordination in such a popular tourist area.
Concerns had already been voiced about Mr Camilleri’s project because it will occupy four sites in the St George’s Bay area and will take a minimum of five years to complete.
The St George’s Bay Hotel site is the largest of the three and the developer proposes to build an underground car park for 1,195 cars together with luxury apartments, a boutique hotel, 15 villas, offices and commercial outlets. Apart from another hotel and a wedding hall at the Villa Rosa site, Mr Camilleri wants to build a third hotel on the site at Cresta Quay currently used as a beach concession.
The site of Dolphin House and Moynihan House will be replaced by a five-storey block housing offices and a language school.
The IHI six-star complex in the vicinity was announced last March at a press conference attended by the Prime Minister, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon.
The development would require a parliamentary resolution before going ahead because the area that had been granted by concession for the building of the existing hotels was intended for tourism purposes not residential units. The area granted has also been extended.
caroline.muscat@timesofmalta.com