Michael Stivala attempts to revive plan for 11-storey Sliema hostel

Developer Michael Stivala has submitted a new application to demolish a farmhouse in Sliema and replace it with an 11-storey hostel, on the site where a similar application was thrown out by a court in 2024. 

The application – PA/03567/26 - calls for the demolition of an existing farmhouse abutting the gardens of the scheduled Villa Bonici on Triq Moroni and Triq Parisio in Sliema, excavation of the plot and the construction of three basement levels and overlying Class 3A hostel with amenities. 

In 2024, the area’s residents had protested fiercely against an application to build a hotel on the same site, also consisting of 11 floors and three basement levels. They argued such a hotel was unacceptable in a residential area already affected by overdevelopment.  

After the Planning Authority approved the application, residents appealed. The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal found problems with the hotel use but sent the case back to the PA’s planning board to be reconsidered as a Class 3A hostel rather than the hotel originally applied for. A court later ruled that the tribunal had overstepped its role by effectively changing the nature of the application, and revoked the permit. 

Reacting to the new application, Astrid Vella, coordinator of NGO Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar, said it was identical to the previous one and was in violation of Local Plan provisions to safeguard residential areas. 

“This is a barefaced attempt to manipulate planning regulations and to flout the 2026 Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act which stipulates that new hostels in residential zones designated by local plans shall provide a maximum of 40 beds.” 

The law Vella referred to, announced in a legal notice in April, sets out a series of measures aimed at improving the quality of Malta’s tourism offering.

Together with the cap on hostel beds, the reform will also prohibit new applications for one or two-star hotels, while a controversial existing measure allowing hotel developments to exceed local plan heights by two floors will be rolled back. 

The reforms come into force in June. 

“Michael Stivala’s flouting of so many regulations and laws in this application speaks volumes about his strong political connections that make him above the law,” she said. 

Stivala: Application 'different'

Stivala told Times of Malta the latest application is “substantially different” from the previous one and had been designed to address the matters raised during its application process and in line with the court's decision.

Asked why he had submitted the application when the new law was seeking to set limits on such tourist accommodation, he said the application would be assessed on the basis of the policies and regulations applicable to the proposal submitted. 

“We are satisfied that the application has been prepared in accordance with the current regulatory framework,” he said. 

Stivala said the tourism component has already been approved by the authorities, together with all other relevant regulatory obligations.

With regard to hostels, the application will be assessed based on the policies and regulations applicable to the submitted proposal.

"We are satisfied that the application has been prepared in accordance with the current regulatory framework," the developer said.