Midi Plc has rebutted the Sliema Residents’ Association claims that there was a lack of public consultation over Midi’s Tigné North project, recently approved by the planning authority.

“Midi regards these allegations as baseless and aimed at misleading the public,” the consortium said in a statement.

The association had said it was “anomalous and shameful” that the project extension was announced on an A4 page displayed on a wall about 300 metres away from the site.

But the consortium insisted it abided by all the public hearing conditions imposed by Mepa and that these conditions were identical to those stipulated for every major development project on the island.

In this particular case, Midi put up two site notices – as opposed to the single notice as stipulated by Mepa; one against the North gate near the roundabout adjacent to Qui-Si-Sana garden, outside the building site in question, and one at the end of Ċensu Xerri street, situated at the pedestrian entrance leading to The Point.

As per Mepa guidelines, Midi said it first issued two press adverts notifying the public that an Environmental Impact Assessment update document had been submitted. Mepa then issued another set of nine press adverts – this time advising the public of the details of the hearing.