Midi has started discussions with a number of entities interested in investing in the Manoel Island project, according to an official company announcement.

Sources told The Sunday Times of Malta that the entities had different ideas for Manoel Island and that the eventual project would depend on which investor was chosen.

There are a number of limitations on the project, with a maximum of 95,000 sq.m. to be developed – around 28 per cent of the available footprint. The development can also not be higher than Lazzaretto, the former isolation hospital on Manoel Island.

Midi won the rights to develop Manoel Island following a public tender in 1992. It was granted the island and Tigné Point in June 2000 on a 99-year emphyteusis for €100 million in premiums and infrastructural and restoration obligations. However, the island project was put on hold while the company put all its efforts into Tigné Point, with delays in the project draining its finances.

The group eventually sold its interest in Tigné Mall, using the €20.9 million generated to lower its bank borrowings. In 2013, the group reduced its consolidated borrowing by €47 million.

It also sold its shareholding in its business centre to MidKnight Holdings and its revenue is now looking considerably healthier thanks to the sale of Tigné Point units coming on stream after years of delays awaiting permits. The interim losses stood at nearly €1 million last June.

Midi CEO Luke Coppini told The Business Observer last June that the deed bound the company to finish the whole project by 2023.

Midi first announced that it would need a strategic partner last May. It can transfer up to 40 per cent of a phase under the same deed to third parties. Anything above that would need government’s consent.

Unlike Tigné Point, where each phase was submitted separately to Mepa for approval, the intention is to submit all the plans for Manoel Island at one go.

The full development application should take nine to 12 months for Mepa to process, according to Mr Coppini.