Wied Maghluq, Marsascala

A gamut of overriding reasons, such as that the site lies within a valley bed, that it is an Outside Development Zone (ODZ) and that it rubs shoulders with Il-Maghluq tal-Bahar, which has been recently been protected by GN 877 of 2003 as a Candidate Site of International Importance (SAC) as an incipient marshland habitat in the islands, should be good enough to ward off any potential developers in any country - but not in Malta, it seems.

In fact, PA application 00924/04 refers to the construction of three storeys of sheltered housing at the junction between Triq Sant'Antnin and Triq il-Buttar, which would spell the end for two large fields just a stone's throw from Il-Maghluq.

The developers in question had already been granted a permit to establish a beer garden on a minuscule part of the same site (PA 01287/02); however, now they seem to have raised the stakes.

The projected three-storey development would certainly not bolster Marsascala's tourist image, since it would face the visitor right at the approach to the coastal village with a gargantuan development. The very site where the beer garden permit was granted shows signs of a not so distant agricultural past, like a water reservoir, which were smothered once and for all when the soil was hastily carted away from the site and stone debris thrown in instead.

In Cassandra fashion, one can predict that the same developer will probably argue that another development (Grabiel Restaurant) already exists quite close to the Maghluq ponds - one can always invoke precedents in this country but these should not be allowed to dictate future decisions.

Residents and the local council alike have clamoured vehemently against the development - residents have even petitioned MEPA on May 13. Time will tell if MEPA heeds property tycoons, such as the one involved here (who has bought vast swathes of virgin land within the area already) or the common citizen.