Hospital development

I have decided to make public what I wrote to the director of Mepa on January 24 without receiving an answer so far. In the meantime works are being carried out.

I am writing with regard to the permit number 02365/05 for an extension at ground floor and construction of an additional service lift. Although the owner has been issued with a valid permit I believe that the situation deserves review on the following grounds:

¤ The planning application notice was fixed upon the façade of the hospital whereas the main impact of this project falls upon the residents of Capua Street and Stella Maris Street. It is therefore incomprehensible that, given the Mepa status of this development as a special project, residents of these streets were not consulted with regard to the planned extension.

¤ The proposed extension will box-in certain residential buildings on these two streets, thus compounding a problem brought about by the original building.

¤ No study was carried out with regard to the potential use of these rooms. It should have been a prerogative to establish what equipment - such as X-ray machines etc - is to be installed and used so close to residential buildings.

¤ Studies should also have covered the increased traffic flow and parking problems brought about by increased activity as a result of the hospital's expansion.

¤ Studies on increased noise levels and noise pollution brought about by the new wing so close to residential buildings.

¤ This area of Sliema is designated by Mepa as an urban conservation area and such a policy should encompass the area as a whole and not just the façades. The hospital extension impinges on the core of this urban conservation area.

In the light of this, I request that the above-mentioned is revoked at least until the studies discussed above are carried out and submitted for approval to Mepa.

On February 3 works were still being carried out - as the photo clearly shows.

The permits are for one floor - but would you believe it one floor is 15 courses high.

As clearly seen in the picture, the windows can be seen fairly low so that the 15 courses will be split in half.

This hospital, which was opened about 10 years ago by Anglu Xuereb, had lots of restrictions as I have investigated. Today the hospital is not only a hospital but also a glorified clinic which has become a massive burden to the residents of the area. To add insult to injury, wardens are always prowling the area especially in the evening. During that time the many clinics inside the hospital receive hundreds of patients daily with no place to park. The hospital car park is a joke. Residents in the area have nowhere to park because the spaces are all taken up by the patients, visitors, doctors etc.

I cannot understand why Josie Muscat did not build a hospital or add more clinics or even extend the hospital in his district in Zabbar or else, maybe, in Marsascala. We Sliema people have had enough. Please Dr Muscat go and build in Zabbar and leave us Slimizi alone. I have been born, baptised, brought up, lived and live and work in Sliema. Leave us in peace.