Eight organisations and several Pembroke residents have joined forces and filed an appeal against the Environment and Resources Authority's approval of a final assessment for db Group's proposed City Centre project.

The €250 million project, to be built on the site of the former Institute for Tourism Studies, has been dogged with controversy since its inception.

The mega-development includes a residential tower, hotel and shopping complex. It was approved by the PA in September 2018 but the permit was later revoked over a conflict of interest concerning one of the planning board members. 

New downscaled plans have since been presented, but these continued to face widespread opposition by NGOs, local councils and residents' groups who argue that the project's excessive scale will engulf the surrounding areas and damage the natural environment. 

On Friday, NGOs and residents said in a statement that they could not stand by and let ERA "rubber-stamp a deeply flawed, unsubstantiated and incomplete assessment".

"ERA continues to consider the excavation of a tunnel which is not included in the application as a mitigating factor but refuses to consider the negative environmental impacts of the tunnel. The assessment is based on untested assumptions and is rife with inconsistencies.

"Once more ERA has abdicated its responsibilities as an environmental watchdog which safeguards the substantive and procedural rights deriving from both local and EU law. We will challenge this."

The NGOs are: Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Green House, Moviment Graffitti, Rota,The Archaeological Society Malta and Żminijietna – Voice of the Left.