Abela highlights Fort Tigné issue in new year's message

The government is 'determined' to save Fort Tigné from development and to return it to the people, Prime Minister Robert Abela said in his New Year's message on Wednesday.

He made the point after the MIDI group said it had entered into a €2.5m promise of sale agreement to hand the remaining lease of the knights-era fort to developer Joseph Portelli, who intends to develop it into a hotel.

Robert Abela had decried the plans within days, while the environment NGO Din L-Art Ħelwa suggested it could raise the funds to take over the fort itself. 

Abela recorded his message at Manoel Island, one of three sites he recalled, which the government has promised to return to the people. The others are Fort Campbell in Selmun and the White Rocks near Pembroke. 

In his address, the prime minister said the government was proud of the strong economy that was offering a strong future to all families and quality careers.

"In a forward-looking Malta, no one should be allowed to fall behind," he stressed. 

Abela said digitalisation would result in a full transformation of society. Experts agreed that Malta was one of the best prepared for the digital world, but it still needed to implement reforms to benefit families and businesses, he added.

It is in this context, he said, that the government would launch Malta Vision 2050, the first comprehensive long-term plan for our country.

It will have three goals: 

• Placing Malta among the top 10 countries in the world for human development;
• Achieving a family income value which exceeds the EU average by one third;
• Reaching a life satisfaction level which ranks among the top five in the European Union.

"It is when we reach these goals for our families, which I believe that we will, that we will have truly achieved a new prosperity," Abela said. 

He focused on his government's highlights this year and listed some of its aims for 2026.

The new year, he said, would be crucial in that it would see the launch of major projects, including the regeneration of the Grand Harbour, a new mental health hospital within Mater Dei, a new, larger hospital emergency department and a specialised 300-bed geriatric hospital within St Vincent de Paul home for the elderly.

Works would also continue on a motorsport facility in Ħal Far, and the process would start for land reclamation projects, as had been successfully done at the freeport. 

Abela spoke briefly on foreign affairs and insisted that Malta must never stop working for peace.

"Peace is the key to the prosperity that we want to protect for our families."

He said the new year should be the year in which Malta would make the next leap forward, and the government would continue to welcome everyone’s ideas.