Updated 10am

A decision on the controversial construction of an apartment block near Ġgantija has been suspended pending a heritage impact assessment that has been requested by UNESCO.

NGOs had flagged that the proposed development falls within a UNESCO-approved buffer zone for the world’s oldest free-standing temples.

The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage has informed the developer’s architect that the UNESCO World Heritage Centre has written to Malta's permanent delegate to UNESCO insisting on this assessment.

This has to be carried out in accordance with UNESCO's operational guidelines for a heritage impact assessment.

The proposed block of flats, named Ġgantija Heights, falls within a buffer zone designed to protect the megalithic temples that are the most popular heritage tourist attraction across the islands.

Ġgantija Heights is marked in the red box within the latest buffer zone, according to a representative of Gozo environment NGOs.

Planning Commission chairperson Stefania Baldacchino suspended the case for the maximum period of time possible for the studies to be carried out as required.

Environmental NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) spokesperson Astrid Vella insisted on knowing who would be carrying out the assessment.

She said this should be carried out by an international body given that Ġgantija is a World Heritage Site.

But Superintendent of Cultural Heritage Kurt Farrugia said it was too early to discuss who would be carrying out the study.  However, the direction from UNESCO as specified in the email would be followed.

A 2015 document that had “gone by unnoticed” on the amendments of the buffer zone “confirmed” that the Ġgantija Heights construction would fall within this area and was not merely close to the megalithic site, a spokesperson for the NGOs said.

A photomontage submitted to the PA by the developer, showing the proposed apartment block on the right side of the image.

Originally, it was thought that the proposed block, visible from the temples and less than 200 metres away, lay just beyond its buffer zone but it is within.

During the last Planning Authority hearing in December, the decision was delayed as the UNESCO issue was raised.

At that PA hearing, campaigner Daniel Cilia had pointed out that threatening the World Heritage status of Ġgantija would impact the value of all six of Malta’s megalithic temples – not just Gozo’s – which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one.

Ġgantija was inscribed in 1980, with Tarxien, Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra inscribed in 1992, followed by Ta’ Ħaġrat and Skorba in 2006.

“If the Maltese challenge the UNESCO-approved buffer zone and construct this huge building inside it, there is a good chance that all of the six megalithic sites could be removed from the World Heritage list,” Cilia said.

The planned construction of 20 garages at basement level and 22 overlying apartments in the rural Gozitan village in the vicinity of the World Heritage property dates back two years, when PA/00570/21 first sparked heritage concerns due to its impact on the Grade 1 monument, with activists warning that history was being “erased”.

The Neolithic temples date back to the period between 3600 BC and 2500 BC and have been considered Heritage Malta’s most visited archaeological site.

FAA expressed concern for the remains found beneath the house that would be demolished to make way for the block, as well as for the heritage value of the urban conservation area streetscape.

Remains had been found by a team of British archaeologists, right up to a few metres from the house facade.

Moreover, Ġganitija is part of a network of temples, with remains found on the headland beyond the house, on the Nuffara hill across from Ġgantija and several other sites in Gozo.

The building of that large block would effectively cut it off from its essential context, Vella insisted.

Concerns were also voiced in an open letter about the excavation needed to accommodate the car park under the apartment block as well as its visual impact on the temples, its size and design in relation to its context.