Manoel Island, Tigné project 'on track'

Over the next six months the Midi Consortium will be presenting the development concepts for the north peninsula of the Tigné project to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in the hope that work will start early in 2006.

Plans for the north peninsula include a mix of apartments, offices and a potential hospitality offer, such as a hotel, with the consortium seeking to identify a particular niche to ensure the hotel would have a unique appeal.

In an interview with The Times on the progress of the project, consortium chief executive Ben Muscat said the Lm140 million Manoel Island Tigné Point development was on track.

The work on Tigné, in Sliema, was always scheduled to move faster than Manoel Island since the latter had to undergo a series of restoration projects, he said.

The south phase of Tigné was progressing at a good pace and the 200-unit residential complex, which was put on the market over a year ago, was in an advanced stage of construction.

The bulk of the apartments were snapped up in a matter of weeks, with 25 per cent taken up by foreign investors or individuals and Maltese buyers taking the remaining 75 per cent. The apartments should be completed and furnished by mid-2006.

Asked if the majority of the units had fallen into the hands of property speculators, Mr Muscat pointed out that there was always an element of speculation in real estate but the majority of the apartments were bought by potential end users. "We do have a screening process in place to ensure purchasers are bona fide buyers but, like I said, property development by its nature must accept some element of speculation," he said.

Tigné Point covers an area twice as large as Mdina and once completed it will be a permanent car-free environment, free from noise and vehicle pollution. With the exception of the residential enclaves, the public will have access to practically all the amenities in this self-contained little town.

"High quality does not mean exclusive and most of the amenities will thrive on the public's involvement," Mr Muscat said.

The project includes a cinema, numerous retail facilities, cafés and entertainment facilities.

Asked if Tigné's shopping complex would have a negative impact on Sliema's retail outlets, Mr Muscat said this would only be the case if shops failed to upgrade their facilities.

"On the basis that Sliema gets its act together on issues such as pedestrianisation and cleanliness, among others, then I think the two will complement one another."

So far, he said, the only frustrations the consortium had had to face was the delay from Mepa's side in giving the green light to its projects.

One main factor that paced the speed of the project was the planning process and any application that the consortium submitted was a project in its own right.

"Midi had anticipated that with a development of this nature there would have been special resources within Mepa to deal with such big projects," Mr Muscat said.

"We have every respect for Mepa but if it is caught in a situation where it has to shift through numerous applications, something will automatically have to take a back seat. I feel this is the one single factor which, if addressed, can accelerate the pace at which we move."

One example was when Mepa took just over two years to issue the formal permit for the first phase of Fort Manoel's restoration. The work to make a substantial part of the fort reusable started in July and is expected to take up until the end of 2008 to be completed. The second phase of restoration will start immediately after and take five years.

"We are studying how we can use a heritage site commercially so it will never regress into disrepair," he said.

Asked to explain why the consortium had closed off Manoel Island and Tigné to the public, Mr Muscat said there was a good reason. "With regard to Tigné we felt it was too dangerous to allow people in while works are ongoing and in the case of Manoel Island it was mainly to keep out squatters, vandals and illegal dumping," he said.

"Overall, we are very satisfied with the projects which are moving ahead and the general perception is that our projects are viewed positively by the public. Of course, along the way we cause inconveniences but we try hard to mitigate these."