The government is set to take back possession of Fort Bengħajsa and 'hand it back to the people,' the Lands Ministry announced on Monday.

The historic fort has been illegally used as a residence for years. It was previously used as a cow farm. 

The ministry said it was committed to ending irregularities in the use of public properties. The fort will be rehabilitated and enjoyed by the public.

Fort Bengħajsa was built by the British services between 1910 and 1912 and formed part of a string of fortifications in the area of Marsaxlokk. The large polygonal structure was built directly along a cliff face and housed six gun emplacements.

After years of abandonment, part of it was rented out for animal husbandry by the Labour government in 1973 for an annual fee of €93. Another plot was rented out in 1981 for €177, while a third plot in 1996 for €419.

Houses and garages were later illegally built inside while its dry moat was littered with scrap metal and construction waste.

The Planning Authority issued an enforcement notice in 2016 and the Land Authority followed with eviction notices to three households occupying the fort some years later. 

The notices pointed out that any legal rent of the properties expired in 2011 and therefore those living in the fort should vacate their plots and any other parts of the fort that they occupied. 

In 2023, then Lands Minister Silvio Schembri had said in parliament that parts of the fortification had been rented out as cow farms. While one plot has still an active lease, other parts of the fort were illegally occupied after the leases expired and were not renewed in February 2011. 

Schembri said that the squatters were ordered to leave in November of that year, but that order was not followed through.