The Planning Authority has agreed to extend the permit for the conversion of the derelict Ħal Ferħ holiday complex in Għajn Tuffieħa into an upmarket tourist resort.
 
Island Hotels Group was issued a permit in 2013 for an €80 million project to convert the abandoned site into a low-lying complex of 228 luxury suites, pools, bars and restaurants.
 
International Hotel Investments, which owns Corinthia Hotels and Island Hotels Group, took over the project in 2015 and subsequently announced plans for completion by 2018, but no works have ever been carried out on site.

The developers applied in January to renew the permit, which would have expired this year, for another five years. 

The unchanged proposal was approved by the PA at a public hearing on Thursday. The new permit is valid for five years. 

Developers' photomontage of the planned tourist complex.

Plans for the site will see a mix of one-and two-storey buildings arranged within a ‘ribbon building’ which will house most of the rooms and tourist facilities and feature a landscaped walkway along its roof. 

The centre of the ribbon building will be mostly open space with landscaping, pools and private pavilions. 

The Ħal Ferħ holiday village was developed in the 1970s and 1980s on part of the British-era complex known as the Lower Camp and is taken up by barracks and modern buildings interspersed with landscaped areas holding mature trees and dense vegetation. 

The existing 1970s complex has been derelict for years. Photo: Alessandro Tesei.