The government’s privatisation unit at the behest of the government’s Consultative Council for the South has proposed that a strip of land about five kilometres long between Smart City and Żonqor Point in Marsascala should be designated for the construction of three hotels.

The development by private developers will take place on virgin coastline lying outside the government’s declared development zone (ODZ). The three proposed sites would be released for private development at a “modest” emphyteutical lease and payment of an annual rent.

The proposal has rightly incensed key environmental NGOs. But it does not stop there. Ordinary citizens are astounded that their quality of life and access to pristine coastline is to be sacrificed in the name of some spurious attempt to inject what the council for the south calls “the rejuvenation and development of the south and lack of tourist accommodation in the region”.

The project is right in seeking to rescue historic Fort Leonardo from the decay to which it has been subjected for the past 40 years and to turn it into a boutique hotel. In this respect at least, some inspired imagination has been demonstrated.

But in every other respect, the proposed project is misplaced on several counts. First, the government is meant to have a structure plan in place which forbids construction in ODZ except in very clearly defined circumstances. Building more hotels on virgin coastline is not one of them. The long-threatened abuse of ODZ by this government is leading not only to the loss of natural habitat and countryside, but also, now, Malta’s remaining coastline.

Secondly, the historical consequences of what happened at Buġibba and Qawra, which started with one or two hotels, stand as an affront to what would almost certainly occur along this stretch of coastline.

It will be no time before the five-star hotel near Smart City and the hotel at the furthermost tip of Żonqor Point, with their “promenades and beach clubs”, are transmogrified into concrete ribbon development over the 5,000 metre stretch of coastline. A veritable cement ribbon of construction development will replace – and mar – the beautiful rocky coastline currently enjoyed by bathers and fishermen living in the south.

Third, the proposal shows the dearth of tourism vision being demonstrated by the council which appears to have no concept of integrated coastal planning or the creativity to produce a different, more exciting tourism strategy for this country, as the Minister for Tourism has several times declared. It is difficult to believe that he supports the project.

Last, the very aim of the project – rejuvenation of the south through the construction of three hotels – must be seriously questioned. The Jerma Palace Hotel – abandoned and destroyed after several years – stands as an economic rebuke to the building of more hotels in the area.

People living in the south may be relatively poorer than those in the north. But this is not through lack of investment there. The south is home to some of Malta’s most important industrial and commercial concerns.

It already attracts tourists to the area as a visit to the restaurants in Marsascala and Marsaxlokk would attest. The fact is that the ‘south’ is less than 10 miles from the top-class hotels in St Julian’s and Valletta.

The Consultative Council for the South should go back to the drawing board. It is arguable whether the south of Malta needs help and, if so, what kind. But building more five-star hotels on virgin coastline is not the answer.

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