Manoel Island development consortium Midi offered an “unacceptable” compromise over public access to the foreshore before the government took the company to court, according to Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manché.
The government filed a judicial protest against Midi on Friday, calling on it to adhere to the terms of its concession agreement and provide public access to the Manoel Island foreshore after a round of talks sparked by weeks of public outrage and protests.
Dr Borg Manché told the Times of Malta that during discussions, Midi offered to provide access only to a small section of coast on the Sliema Creek, not easily accessible and representing just a fraction of the island’s kilometre-long foreshore.
“If we have the right to the whole foreshore, then that’s what we should have,” the mayor said yesterday. “You can’t just give me half or a quarter of what I have a right to. If they were actually carrying out development, and the government agreed to close off a small area, that could be justified, but not limiting us to a small area without explanation.”
The row over access to the foreshore escalated this weekend as activists once again cut through Midi’s gates, having already done so two weeks ago. The Planning Authority, meanwhile, issued an enforcement order against the company on Friday, demanding the gates, which are not covered by a permit, be removed within 16 days.
The outline development permit that the PA issued to Midi in October 1999 included a condition that the foreshore be made accessible “throughout the construction and operational phases” of the private consortium’s plans to develop a “Mediterranean village”, which would include residences, commercial outlets, a hotel and a casino.
The foreshore is not included in Midi’s concession agreement with the government, but the company has repeatedly insisted it has no obligation to provide access over its private property. Mr Borg Manché said, however, the legal advice he has received is that the contract makes the obligation clear – a view now backed up by the government.
“The contract says the grantor [the government] has the right to temporarily close access to ‘areas of the property as may be reasonably indicated’ to allow them to carry out the development,” he said. “Nothing in that allows Midi to close off access to the whole island and the foreshore.
You can’t just give me half or a quarter of what I have a right to
“If access to ‘parts of the property’ can be closed, that means the public has a right to pass through the property to access public areas.” He added that Midi had not carried out any development beyond some restoration on Fort Manoel, which could have easily been sealed off without affecting access to the rest of the island.
“We offered to put in place surveillance and other measures to prevent the public from going into certain areas,” Mr Borg Manché said, reacting to claims that opening up access would encourage vandalism. “But there’s something wrong when they say they want to protect the heritage and then leave the gates to the fort wide open, or leave the 400-year-old hospital [the Lazaretto] in ruins for years.”
As Midi’s development deadline draws closer – works must be completed by March 2023, after which daily fines will be imposed and the contract torn up after three years – Mr Borg Manché raised doubts over the company’s ability to meet the deadline and the value of the development for the town and the rest of Malta.
“Manoel Island is the only place in the whole Sliema-St Julian’s-Gżira area that is still as it was 200 years ago. The emphasis should be on open space: if we build up there too, it will be suffocating. Instead, we should convert it into a national park.
“Business-wise their development makes sense, but the public doesn’t need even more buildings in this area. When I was young, Gżira was quiet. Now with the traffic and constant construction, it’s too hectic. When people visited Manoel Island in the last few weeks, they realised there was something missing,” the mayor said
A similar proposal was put forward in recent days by Alternattiva Demokratika, which has called for the government to reclaim the land and convert it into an eco-island, to be accessible only to pedestrians and cyclists.
Mr Borg Manché stressed, meanwhile, that even the promised benefits of the development had not been delivered. The town’s football club, for example, is currently paying some €20,000 a year for training facilities, while Midi has yet to start work on a community football pitch and sports centre included in its plans.
Having already filed a judicial protest against Midi, kick-starting the events of recent weeks, the council is now taking steps to bring Manoel Island under its jurisdiction, insisting the people of the town need to have some say in developments of such importance.
“Future generations won’t care what sort of profit Midi made,” Mr Borg Manche said. “What will matter to them is if there is still public space to enjoy.”