Marsascala car park row heads to abitration board
Owner to begin proceedings at Land Arbitration Board after public car park built on private Marsascala land
The man who charged bathers €5 to park at St Thomas Bay is set to take the government before the Land Arbitration Board, in a bid to force it to either buy the disputed land or hand it back.
In a statement, lawyers Jose Herrera and David Camilleri said the government carried out the works on the Marsascala site to turn it into a public car park, only for it to emerge that the land was Attard’s property.
Attard previously showed Times of Malta a lease agreement with 150 years remaining, showing that the land was acquired from a third party in May.
The lawyers said it is not always straightforward to establish who owns a piece of land in Malta. Property searches can only be carried out against individual persons, and not by property.
When a property does not fall within a designated land registration area, there is no way to search the records by property.
Attard’s lawyers have sent an official letter to the government about the matter, and it appears that the government is carrying out its own verifications.
In the meantime, the lawyers said Attard’s only available remedy is to start proceedings before the Land Arbitration Board to compel the government to either purchase the land or return it to him.
Bathers heading to St Thomas Bay in past weeks found themselves being charged a flat €5 fee to use a car park that had been free for decades.
Infrastructure Malta recently levelled and paved the area as part of a facelift to the zone.
However, Attard told Times of Malta he had acquired the lease for the land from a third party in May and was using his private property.
Times of Malta has seen a redacted copy of the contract, which shows that 150 years remain on the lease.
Government sources said Infrastructure Malta had begun expropriation proceedings over the site because ownership of the land was unclear.
Marsascala mayor Mario Calleja had announced that an agreement was reached with Attard for the parking to remain free of charge, but Attard said the arrangement only covered that weekend, and that he would resume charging on the following Monday unless the government began negotiating to buy the land.
Times of Malta understands that Attard has not resumed charging at the time of publication.