Sant claims favouritism drove choice of Ghajn Tuffieha site

Opposition Leader Alfred Sant came out strongly against the proposed golf course at Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra and Il-Qortin yesterday, claiming the site had been chosen to please "the owner of the new hotel being built at Ghajn Tuffieha".

Later in the afternoon, Winston Zahra, group managing director of Island Hotels Group, which owns the Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa, labelled Dr Sant's claim as "defamatory and libellous". Island Hotels Group will be suing the MLP leader for libel over his comments.

"Decisions should be taken to accommodate the country in general and not just one person," Dr Sant said. He went on to suggest that a golf course should be sited between St Julians and Qawra where it would be close to "a concentration of hotels".

While touring Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra and agricultural land that will be affected by the development, Dr Sant said the government was intimidating the farmers there by its attitude. He questioned why a golf course was to be placed far away from the tourist mecca "situated between St Julians and Qawra".

Dr Sant asked why the government had turned a blind eye to the need of a golf course for so many years and then, all of a sudden, asked the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to draw up a report on potential golf course sites.

"What is more suspicious was that the Ghajn Tuffieha site did not feature in the original list drawn up by Mepa. If the government was determined to develop a golf course between Ghajn Tuffieha and Mellieha from day one, it should stop hiding behind Mepa," Dr Sant said.

The Island Hotels Group said Mr Zahra planned to sue Dr Sant in his personal capacity as the Labour Party leader's remarks "were also in part addressed to him directly".

The company that owns the Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa is Golden Sands Resort Limited, which in turn forms part of the Island Hotels Group.

Mr Zahra said the directors of the group only got to know about the golf course when it was announced by the government through the media. He categorically declared that at no point in time were any officials of the company approached by the government regarding the golf course venture. Nor did any official of the group contact the government about this matter.

Mr Zahra deplored any kind of insinuation to the contrary and stressed that Island Hotels Group had been built up from a modest company employing 25 people 17 years ago to a group of hotels employing 1,100 people today purely through hard work, determination and drive.

"In the development of the Radisson SAS Golden Sand Resort and Spa, great attention was given to the environmental impact that the project could have. In this respect no effort was spared to ensure that the impact, if any at all, would be the minimum possible. Moreover, large sums of money were invested to minimise the effect of the new property on the country's infrastructure," Mr Zahra said.

The Tourism Ministry and the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Environment Ministry said Dr Sant was only trying to gain political mileage from the golf course issue.

"Dr Sant is only interested in political opportunism," the ministries said in a joint statement which also referred to comments given by Dr Sant to The Times on Wednesday, namely that the MLP "wanted to see what the civil society had to say before taking an official stand".

The ministries reiterated that the site had been earmarked by Mepa as the best location after intensive studies had been carried out covering a number of sites.

The government had asked Mepa to point out the best possible sites through a technical report in a "most transparent manner" and all decisions being taken were based on that technical report, the ministries said.

"When Dr Sant was Prime Minister, he had appointed a committee to propose sites where a golf course could be developed, leaving out the authorities which are really competent on the matter." It was, therefore, ironic that Dr Sant was now calling on the government to choose the site "in a strategic manner", the government added.

Referring to the Opposition Leader's suggestion to use the area between St Julians and Qawra instead of Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra, the government said the Pembroke area had logistical and environmental limitations and the site could not be developed because it was scheduled by Mepa.

In the case of Ghajn Tuffieha, the scheduled areas close to the cliffs would be covered by a management plan through which public access may be improved, the government said.