Grech: 'We must do everything we can to turn Manoel Island into national park'

PN leader Bernard Grech has said his party is willing to do “everything possible” to turn Manoel Island into a national park.

“The public interest in the case of Manoel Island demands that, since we are still in time and no construction has started, we must do everything possible to transform the site into a national park,” he said in a statement.

The party position reflects a change in emphasis: just last week, Grech argued that contracts had to be respected and that calls for the site to be turned into a park were a "beautiful dream". 

Activists behind the Manoel Island Post Għalina (A Place for Us) movement gathered more than 29,000 signatures for a parliamentary petition urging the government to drop its concession with developers MIDI and turn the island into a public park.

PN MPs are understood to have met on Tuesday to discuss a common stance on the issue, following Grech's statement to journalists and comments by other MPs who were more eager to endorse activists' calls.

Grech called the meeting days after party MP Albert Buttigieg, who has been one of the loudest voices within his party to speak in favour of the petition, publicly requested an internal meeting on the matter.

In its party statement, the PN noted that since no development on Manoel Island has begun yet, there is still a chance to save the site.

“The government has both a responsibility and a duty, in the name of the Maltese people, to ensure that the terms of the contract are respected, and to verify whether any of the conditions have been breached,” the PN added.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has repeatedly said that the government is bound by a concession deal signed with MIDI by a PN-led government two decades ago. 

But while speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Abela said the government is analysing the concession to determine whether any of the clauses have been breached.

He previously defended the concession, arguing that 60 per cent of Manoel Island will remain accessible to the public.

Grech accused Abela of making a U-turn, saying the prime minister had heeded his advice to review the obligations of the contract.

He also noted that when the concession in MIDI's favour was signed, the Labour Party had voted in favour of it too. 

When Labour rose to power, it failed to ensure that the developers honoured the contractual obligations, Grech argued. 

“We are determined, together with the people, to see this beautiful dream of a family-friendly national park become a reality,” Grech said.

MIDI was awarded a 99-year emphyteutical lease for Manoel Island and Tigné Point in June 2000. The developers plan on constructing over 300 luxury apartments, commercial facilities, green open spaces and recreational facilities on the site.

Activists' petition will now be discussed by a parliamentary petitions committee, which includes members from both sides of the House. The committee will vote on whether the petition should be debated and put to a vote in parliament.

The campaign is being led by Moviment Graffitti and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and has been endorsed by over 40 organisations and NGOs, including Din l-Art Ħelwa, Richmond Foundation, the Church’s Environment Commission, and Kamra tal-Periti.

Activists argue that MIDI will soon run past project deadlines listed in the concession deal, which state that the project must be substantially completed by March 2026. The original deadline was March 2023, but it was automatically extended.

MIDI, on the other hand, insists that the concession deal stipulates that deadlines are automatically extended if delays are due to issues related to planning permits, archaeological finds our issues outside of its control.