A new emergency ward at Mater Dei Hospital, which will include a national crisis unit, was given the green light by the planning authority yesterday.

The permit replaces an earlier authorisation for the building of two storeys on top of the present accident and emergency ward.

The original plan had to be ditched after the government was advised that the structure of the emergency department was too weak to support the additional floors.

Instead, a new building, consisting of five storeys plus a basement level, will be built adjacent to the present emergency department. It will accommodate the national crisis unit.

The first floor will host a ward with 68 beds, a reception area, treatment rooms and other utility areas.

Site will accommodate the national crisis unit

The second and third floors will serve as a national crisis unit and the fourth floor will be used as a plant room, along with parts of the basement level and at ground floor level.

The building height will be just over 23 metres. At its highest point, the proposed extension will not exceed the height of the existing blocks.

Transport Malta said the proposed development would not generate additional traffic because its scope was not to increase the hospital’s capacity but to enable the existing capacity to be served better. Within two months from the issue of the development permit, the foundation has to submit an update to the environmental permit application, covering the emergency department and national crisis unit, to the Environment Protection Directorate.

The environmental permit is still being processed and has not yet been issued.

Yet, in a memorandum, the Environment Protection Directorate noted that there was no objection to the proposal from an environmental point of view. Trees to be uprooted will be replanted within the Mater Dei grounds and integrated in the existing landscaping scheme.

Changes to the original plans were necessary after multinational engineering firm Arup advised the government that the emergency ward was too weak to support another two floors.

The original 68-bed project, awarded to Attard Bros and Mekkanika last April, has to be finished by June so EU funds allocated to it are not lost. The project is estimated to cost €11.2 million, 85 per cent of which will be covered by the EU.

It is unclear how the new floors, now approved for development, will be financed. It is also unclear whether a new tender will have to be issued since this is effectively a new project.

The development permit is valid for a period of five years.