A little detail in the Paceville master plan suggests the Institute of Tourism Studies should be sold for €212 million as the government keeps silent on talks over its sale.

The figure is vastly higher than the €6.5 million rumoured to have been offered for the land by a private developer.

Land comprising part of the ITS site and the Corinthia Marina Hotel was valued at €8,500 per square metre by planners who drew up the overarching regeneration plan for Paceville.

But more important is the fact that the authors of the report indicated that the valuation prices for eventual expropriation were “provided by Malta Government”.

The Times of Malta lifted the lid on this detail in one of the annexes to the master plan last Monday but questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister remained unanswered despite two reminders.

The price tag on the seafront land in St George’s Bay is crucial since the government is negotiating the sale of ITS to the Seabank Group for the construction of a Hard Rock hotel and two high-rise residential towers.

The Office of the Prime Minister has refused to say whether the price tag quoted in the Paceville master plan is the baseline being used by the government in these talks.

Controversy over the sale of ITS ensued last May when The Sunday Times of Malta reported how it was going to be sold off on the cheap.

Industry sources were angered at the persistent rumours that put Seabank’s offer at a paltry €6.5 million for the 25,000 square metre site. The company had said its offer was much higher but refused to disclose the amount.

Land comprising part of the ITS site was valued at €8,500 per square metre

The sale of ITS means the government will have to fork out €56 million for the building of a new campus at Smart City where it is being relocated.

The Seabank Group was the only bidder for a tender issued by the government for the sale of ITS. But despite not yet in possession of the land and without the relevant building permits in hand, the company has accepted deposits from prospective buyers for apartments in the towers.

In an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta last June, Seabank CEO Arthur Gauci said one of the two towers, of 29 floors, had practically been taken up, at a price of €50,000 per floor.

He said customers paid a deposit to “reserve” the floor, which could then be broken down into separate apartments if the project went through.

READ: An interview with Seabank CEO Arthur Gauci

However, matters got even more complicated last month when the Paceville master plan proposed that part of the ITS land be expropriated to create a public square, which planners referred to as St George’s Parade.

It is unclear whether the planners were aware that ITS was still public land when proposing its expropriation.

A render of the Seabank group's proposed development for the ITS site.

The government failed to clarify whether it intended selling the whole ITS site only to expropriate part of it soon after.

The area suggested for expropriation in the master plan features the Hard Rock hotel in Seabank’s project plans distributed to real estate agents.

The unanswered questions

The Paceville master plan identifies part of the ITS site in St George’s Bay as required for an open, public square. The plan says this portion of land should be expropriated at a value of €8,500 per square metre.

At the same time the government is in talks over the sale of ITS to the Seabank Group. In view of this the Office of the Prime Minister was asked to clarify matters but no replies were forthcoming.

1. Have negotiations with the Seabank Group ended?

2. Is the price per square metre quoted in the Paceville master plan the baseline being used by the government for the sale of ITS?

3. Is the government excluding the parcel of land forming part of ITS, which the master plan is proposing be turned into a public open square, from the Seabank negotiations?

4. If the answer to the question above is ‘no’, does government intend selling the whole of ITS, only to expropriate part of the land back later?

5. Does the new development (the Paceville master plan) require the government to re-issue the ITS development tender given a substantial material change in the site conditions?

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com