Updated 4.30pm

The Nationalist Party said on Monday it is continuing to oppose government plans to hand over 504 square metres of the shoreline and 16,000 square metres of the sea in Sliema.

The area is opposite the Fortina Hotel, where pontoons will be laid for boats to dock.  In 2019, the owners of the Fortina hotel also benefited from the lifting of restrictions on public land, allowing them to build shops and apartments on land previously reserved for tourism.

The government has moved a motion for the transfer of the site for 65 years at a price of €5.65 per square metre.

Nationalist MPs Darren Carabott, Graham Bencini and Rebekah Borg, who sit on the Public Accounts Committee, said the plans belied government statements about open public spaces.

Through this motion, the government would be denying the public an open space used for swimming and undermine the environment of the area. 

All this was a result of greed and a lack of planning, they said.

Government reacts 

Reacting to the PN's statement, the government said the €7 investment was being carried out on a concession granted in 1991 to Fortel Services Ltd.

The motion moved by the government would see the improvement of existing infrastructure in line with permission granted last year. The work includes the replacement of the current swimming pool, the extension of the shore, and the building of a restaurant and a square, the government added in a statement. 

It added that temporary piers will be set up next to the project which will be removed in winter.