The developers behind the unsuccessful repeated attempts to build a destination port comprising a hotel, a yacht marina and a tourist village in the iconic Ħondoq ir-Rummien have applied to reconstruct a dilapidated rural room overlooking the bay.

Gozo Prestige Hotels applied to reconstruct the room, replacing its ceiling and rebuilding the parts that collapsed over the years.

Through architect Deborah Busuttil, Gozo Prestige Holidays director Joe Cassar is seeking permission to demolish the rural room, built before 1967, and reconstruct collapsed walls, ceiling and parapet walls “as it is”. According to plans filed with the Planning Authority, the present room is 2.6 metres high while the proposed room will measure 3.08 metres.

Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg, who put on a 20-year fight to save Ħondoq, told Times of Malta he was against the development if the room will grow more than it is at present or if it becomes an eyesore.

The local council, through their lawyer, Claire Bonello, asked the PA to keep it informed throughout the stages of the application.

Gozo Prestige Hotels acquired the land from the Dominican Order for just €23,000 back in 1988.

Nearly 15 years later, in July 2002, an application was filed to develop “a destination port”, which was to include a hotel, yacht marina and a tourist village. The entire project would have eaten up 103,000 square metres of land, with a building footprint of more than 13,000 square metres. The developers applied to build private roads, a marina promenade and a public wharf.

Some 15,000 square metres of agricultural land and another 23,000 square metres of protected garigue were to be dug up.

Buttigieg began his two-decade campaign against the development and organised a referendum in 2012 when an overwhelming 84.5 per cent of residents voted against what was at the time referred to as “the Qala Creek project”.

In August 2011, the Directorate of Environment Protection recommended that the Ħondoq project be shot down and, in June 2016, the PA unanimously voted to refuse the application in what was viewed as a victory for residents and activists opposed to the privatisation of the coastal area.

But that victory was short-lived: barely four months later, in October, the applicant appealed the decision. Gozo Prestige Hotels insisted their right to a fair hearing had been denied as they had only been given 15 days to prepare for the final hearing.

The developers also called for the project to be sent back to assessment for new plans to be considered – replacement of the proposed marina with a lagoon and a significantly reduced built-up area.

But, in October 2022, a final decision was handed down when the Environment Planning Review Tribunal decided against the developer’s appeal. And, again, last August, this decision was confirmed on appeal. The Court of Appeal declared that the Planning Authority was right to reject the new plans submitted by the developer after the environmental impact assessment had been finalised.

Prime Minister Robert Abela earlier this month said that the government was currently going through a process to ensure that Ħondoq ir-Rummien would not be developed once and for all.