Works on the building of a 'huge' Capitanerie on part of the Ta' Xbiex promenade amounted to stealing from the poor to give to the rich and demonstrated unkept government promises, environment NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar has said.
The structure at Gzira Gardena will include an office, large restaurant and café plus a shop. It was granted a planning permit last year.
Astrid Vella, FAA coordinator told a press conference that promises made by politicians after last year’s ‘Xebbajtuna’ national environment protest were simply hollow words. Prime Minister Robert Abela’s pledge that a law would soon be passed, suspending construction works while permits were being appealed never materialised, hence the Captanerie works had started in spite of FAA’s appeal.
Charles Mercieca, FAA chairman, explained that the NGO was not against yacht marinas, but against the seizure of public land. FAA had campaigned against the original project to build the Capitanerie on the children’s playground, following which the application was withdrawn; however, it was then shifted to the public promenade.
Election candidate Arnold Cassola highlighted that the government has set up authorities to create open spaces, but was taking away existing green spaces from the people. The Marina office could be set up on a pontoon or at one of the scores of empty offices in the vicinity, while there was certainly no need for a restaurant to be built on the coast, as the area was already lined with eateries as well as shops.
Michael Sciortino, FAA spokesperson on the Capitanerie project, said that the original permit PA 5468/10 to upgrade the marina, only granted the marina a small floating office. However, when Transport Malta issued a tender for the Marina in 2017, it claimed to have permits for the office and restaurants, when in fact it hadn’t even been applied for. Transport Malta then submitted application PA 680/22 to build the Capitanerie on the promenade, where half the site is designated as a Public Open Space, signifying that it cannot be built upon.
Sciortino explained that in designating World Heritage Sites, UNESCO stipulates that the area is to be protected by a buffer zone. FAA had been insisting that the buffer zone should include the coastal zone/road to prevent building just one metre from the sea from blocking the vista of Valletta, rendering the buffer zone futile, yet Government was illegally withholding its Views and Vistas Studies from public scrutiny.
Other threats to the status of Valletta were the approved extra floor on Lazzaretto and the extension of Hotel Excelsior. This was a trend which included the AquaLuna Lido in Gzira, the structures on the Fortina Lido and the proposed Manoel Island blocks of flats. It was therefore no wonder that UNESCO was expressing its concern about the situation around Valletta.