A €120 million mega-development project in Gżira, which promised to change the face of that part of the island, remains one big excavated hole a year after the foundation stone was laid and now removed.

A year after the project in Testaferrata Street, Gżira was inaugurated, there was no more than a big hole in the ground yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Sources close to the planned Metropolis Plaza told this newspaper that, despite last’s year’s inauguration by the Prime Minister, the project was at a complete standstill and there were no indications on whether and when works would start.

“The foundation stone too has been removed and, since the inauguration, not a single brick was laid,” sources close to the developers said.

Laying the foundation stone on April 6, 2015, a few days before the holding of the local council elections, Dr Muscat had described the project as proof that Malta was attracting the right investment. He said the project would be completed in four years’ time and employ 400 people.

According to estate agents, the 6,000-square metre plot in Testaferrata Street is up for grabs.

It seems the developers have not managed to get the finances needed for the project yet

“It seems the developers have not managed to get the finances needed for the project yet and the whole area is up for sale. We think the Metropolis Plaza is off the drawing board,” one estate agent said.

“Although they [the developers] are not publicising it, the area is actually up for sale for tens of millions of euros. If someone with the right cash comes forward I can tell you the people behind the project will be very happy to sell,” another estate agent said.

Efforts to contact representatives of Metropolis Developments Ltd, the company behind the project, proved futile yesterday.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat lays the foundation stone on April 6, 2015. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The mega project, which had to feature the tallest building in Malta, was designed to include three high-rise buildings having 13, 27 and 33 floors.

According to the developers, it had to include luxury residential, commercial, health, fitness and leisure facilities and an underlying car park with 500 spaces.

In 2014, Jalal Husni Bey, a Libyan developer and the brains behind the project, had told the Times of Malta he wanted to invest €40 million more on top of the €60 million he was already planning to make sure the development would be top-notch.

He had also announced plans to transfer his overseas company’s headquarters to Malta, basing hundreds of employees here.

Mr Bey had said he had also submitted plans to the government for a yacht marina in Gżira Gardens, saying it had massive potential and could be complementing his project.

So far, the government has not made any announcement on this proposal.