TUM Invest Limited ditched its controversial plan to build a 24-storey hotel next to the Regional Road tunnel, two months after pulling out of a promise of sale agreement to acquire the land earmarked for the development.
While the company was not forthcoming when approached for comment, sources cited “negative publicity” by the media, which reported the barrage of objections by St Julian’s residents and the council that the project had provoked.
It transpires that, in September last year, the company had entered into a preliminary agreement to acquire a 75%share. The promise of sale agreement had been signed by Silvan Fenech, on behalf of TUM Invest, and Carmelo Borg, who owns the land.
However, seven months down the line, on April 27, the company had a change of heart and rescinded the agreement.
A private agreement seen by Times of Malta states that the owner of the land shall, by October 27, refund the €300,000 deposit TUM Invest had made on the signing of the promise of sale agreement.
Contacted by Times of Malta, Borg said a decision to build a boundary wall around the site was made following complaints that the area had become a dump site. He pointed out that the land belonged to his family for generations and part of it had been expropriated in the 1960s for the construction of the Regional Road.
Asked about his plans for the plot of land, which measures about 3,000sq metres, Fenech confirmed he was keen to develop the site but declined to give further details. He said he had every right to file an application for whatever development he would deem appropriate.
Though the area is within the development zone, it is designated as a public open space by the north harbour local plan.
St Julian’s council had fiercely objected to the project as it was felt that the scale of the proposal was excessive when taking into consideration its close proximity to Wied Għomor.
Apart from an environmental viewpoint, the proposal had also been questioned as the site is within a traffic junction bordered by an arterial road (Regional Road) on one side and a slip road to Spinola Bay along Triq il-Baltiku on the other.
Concerns had been raised that such development would exacerbate the traffic situation in the area.