Montekristo's illegal zoo, park and extensions sanctioned, once they pay €1.8m

A string of illegal developments at Montekristo Estates – including the construction of a zoo, family park and extensions to the winery – are to be sanctioned once the owner pays €1.8 million.

The Planning Authority’s (PA) board voted in favour of approving the illegalities with a 9-2 vote on Thursday. Owners of the estate in Ħal Farruġ  must pay €1.8 million, which encompasses fines and a planning contribution.

The site, located on Triq Ħal Farruġ, Siġġiewi, owned by construction tycoon Charles Polidano, also known as iċ-Ċaqnu has been subject to numerous enforcement notices for constructing without a permit, dating back to 2008.

In a statement, the Polidano Group said it was willing to pay the fee and welcomed the decision, which it said offers the Maltese public an open recreational space.

“Polidano also notes with a degree of satisfaction that today’s hearing registered no public objections to the revised plans presented to the PA,” the group said. It added that the built-up area of Montekristo Estate only makes up 10 per cent of the full 150,000 square metre site.

A spokesperson for Polidano said: “While Montekristo Estate was conceived with the best of intentions as a centrepiece for the best of Maltese agriculture and craftsmanship, we acknowledge that our approach to planning regulations should have been better. 

“Today, we came to the Planning Authority to remedy past deviations from approved plans and have been asked to pay a high price for them through the imposition of substantial planning gain and other fees totalling almost €2m."

Polidano applied for two sanctioning applications covering 145,000 square metres of land.

The first application (PA/05788/09) seeks to sanction extensions at Montekristo’s winery and bottling plant, parts of which were approved by two planning applications (PA/02505/04, PA/01416/06).

Outdoor recreational areas, parking areas and event halls encompassing over 100,000 square metres were also sanctioned.

The second application was (PA/02211/10) to sanction a family park which includes a zoo and an equestrian arena for horse events, covering over 45,000 square metres was also improved. 

Animals at the zoo on the Montekristo Estate pictured in 2014. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Chairperson Emanuel Camilleri endorsed the project on condition that the applicants pay their outstanding fines and planning contributions. He questioned whether they should decide to spend another 20 years in court, or "grab the bull by the horns" and close the case now.

In order for permits to be issued, both applications have a planning contribution of €500,000, thus totalling €1 million. This amount must either be paid to the PA’s Planning Fund, or spend that amount of money to carry out improvements on the amount approved by the PA.

Given that both applications deal with seven enforcement notices, the applicants must also pay a fine of around €800,000.

Architects involved in the project gave a long presentation on the economic and social benefits of this estate. Besides this, architect Colin Zammit heavily praised the project for offering a "green lung" in a country that lacks these types of open spaces.

Although the site is located Outside the Development Zone, Zammit said this must also be seen in the context of industrial developments that surround the site. There is Lufthansa’s hangar, Polidano Group’s batching plant and a partially approved winery.

Regarding the zoo, Zammit said that since the MCAST plans to introduce the first veterinary course to the island, the estate is ready to offer its services for the vocational university to make use of the site.

'Sending the wrong message'

Board member and NGO representative, Romano Cassar, voted against the project due to the long history of enforcement and breaches of enforcement.

“I don’t think that we should sanction this application as we are sending the wrong message to the public that people can do whatever they want and apply for sanctioning later,” Cassar said.

He also mentioned how in other countries, whenever there are illegalities, they are dealt with by the court, which decides whether the development should remain or be removed.

Responding, architects said that both applications offer new plans which cover all enforcement notices.

Board member architect Andrew Ellul praised the project for its architecture and highlighted that, although there were enforcement notices, the project is expanding on two applications that were already approved.

In 2013, MEPA (today’s PA) sent its workers and machinery to Montekristo to begin removing the illegalities built on the site. These were halted after a court upheld a request for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction.

At the time, the MEPA had said that, according to their estimates, illegalities covered around 64,000 square metres of land.