Ten non-governmental organisations have once again objected to the db Group’s project on the former ITS site.

They state that the new plans do not address the main concerns repeatedly raised over the past three years in relation to “this massive and intensive development” in a predominantly residential area adjacent to two Natura 2000 sites.

They also invited the public to object to the project with the Planning Authority through this form until this Friday.

Photo: Protesting NGOs

According to the new plans, the project's maximum height has been reduced from 31 storeys to 17.

The €300 million project now consists of two 17-storey towers and a 12-storey hotel. The so-called City Centre project will see db Group build a hotel, residential units and a shopping mall, among other things, on the site of what used to house the Institute of Tourism Studies. 

The project has been the subject of loud objections from residents and lobby groups who say the surrounding area would be eclipsed by the project.

In their statement on Wednesday, the organisations noted that, although the new plans are being portrayed as a downscaling of initial ones, there are only minimal changes to the project’s overall volume.

The applicant, they said, is now proposing two towers instead of one, adding three residential floors to those in previous plans. But the main points of concern remained “totally unaddressed” and the amended proposal “is still completely out of context with its surroundings”.

The organisations insisted that the volume of activity the project will generate in the Pembroke, Swieqi and St Julian’s area, as well as the spillover of Paceville into Pembroke, “will be unsustainable and will degrade the quality of life for thousands of residents and visitors of the impacted localities”.

Moreover, they said, the infrastructure in the area “is currently unsuitable” for a development of this scale and the separate proposal of a tunnel leading to this project “is objectionable in its own right.

Such a tunnel, they said, would be “yet another example” of infrastructural works for “the lucrative benefit of a private investor financed by taxpayers”.

The organisations said the new plans “do not reduce the aggressive impact on the surrounding natural environment and Natura 2000 sites”, and neither do they allay fears about the “potentially disastrous consequences” on the adjacent Għar Ħarq il-Ħamiem, a submerged terrestrial cave system of unique geological and ecological value.

They also pose a threat to the visual integrity of the Grade 2 Scheduled St George’s Barracks while the fate of the Cold War bunker remains unclear.

“It is inconceivable that a private project with a negative impact of this scale is being proposed on public land, in a case where the auditor general found multiple irregularities in its transfer to the db Group,” they said.

The project has attracted a record 15,000 objections over the previous three objection periods as well as opposition from residents, councils, business groups, and NGOs.

“The fact that government seems deaf to this unprecedented outcry speaks volumes,” they said.

They added that the only sensible way forward is the “definitive withdrawal of plans” for such an overwhelming development in this residential area.

The statement was signed by  BirdLife, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth, Green House, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust, Rota, Sustainable Built Environment, and the Archaeological Society.