AD chairman lambastes 'short-sighted' Mepa

The development of the former Crowne Plaza Hotel site and the surrounding areas would affect residents from Swieqi to Msida and Ta' Xbiex due to traffic congestion, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said yesterday.

Speaking near the gate of the former Crowne Plaza Hotel, which was closed by an employee when he realised a press conference was in progress, Dr Vassallo said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority was being very short-sighted in looking at projects individually without considering the overall impact on a given area.

Dr Vassallo said AD had expressed its opposition to the fact that an environment impact assessment for this project had been waived.

"The Structure Plan clearly states that Sliema is already overdeveloped. The development in the Tignè area is all unnecessary and the impact of 386 apartments will only make matters worse," he said.

AD's Sliema councillor Michael Briguglio said there was far too much development. "There is the MIDI, Townsquare, and Crowne Plaza area suffocating Tignè Point to the detriment of residents. Public space is being lost to speculative projects," he said.

Mr Briguglio said: "Mepa's methodology of considering projects on a case-by-case basis was not suitable as it ignored the holistic effect of such development. Sliema residents have the right to enjoy their neighbourhood free from overdevelopment, endless construction work and increased traffic flow," he said.

Asking what position Nationalist Party local councillors had taken on the issue, Mr Briguglio said it was estimated that about 12,000 trips would be required to cart away the construction and demolition waste that will be generated from the Townsquare project down the road.

Astrid Vella, a spokesman for the environmental group Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar, said the development at the Crowne Plaza site would be in the form of a high rise, 22-storey tower block. She said Sliema was the third most densely populated area in the world and would soon become the second.

"We have found a lot of cooperation from Mepa employees but these are not the ones who dictate policies. We are seeing monuments to greed being built, creating ghettos for the rich, ruining the health of residents in the process," she said.