Despite significant improvements to the Manoel Island masterplan, there should not be any commercial development in this valuable and important place, Moviment Graffitti said.

"Manoel Island should serve as a stark reminder of how senseless it is to give away public land for private interests," the pressure group said about the area given to MIDI through a bi-partisan agreement in parliament several years ago.

But Graffitti also noted significant improvements over the masterplan presented earlier this year, evidence that non-partisan movements can achieve tangible victories against big and powerful interests.

Public access was then illegally blocked for 17 years and MIDI will now be reaping profits from several structures built on public land, and a hotel set in a historical building, the Lazzaretto.

The trend of giving away public land to private companies continues unabated till this day.

One such case was the recent transfer of the ITS building to the DB Group, where a "horrendous" project with disastrous impacts on residents and the environment is being proposed, Graffitti said.