A new 30-bed private hospital planned for Żejtun is awaiting planning permission even as the developer, Saint James Group chairman Josie Muscat, pays the government for leasing the land.

Just under two years ago, Dr Muscat took a 65-year lease on a piece of land that the government had earmarked specifically for the building of a hospital. The land lies in an outside development zone.

Saint James, which operate two other hospitals in Żabbar and Sliema, won a public call for tenders after being the only bidders and are now paying an annual rent of almost €70,000 for the Żejtun land.

An outline development permit and a permit for digging have been issued by Mepa and, although excavation has taken place, works on the hospital proper still await a full development permit.

When contacted, a Mepa spokesman said the planning application was currently being processed.

The hospital will replace the 16-bed facility in Żabbar which, according to Dr Muscat, has long become too small for the group's needs. In fact, closing down the Żabbar hospital was a condition imposed on the group by the authorities.

Dr Muscat said the process towards building the new hospital - which will replace a former sausage factory now occupying part of the land in the limits of Żejtun - started in 1999.

That was even before the group took over the private hospital in Sliema. "We took over Capua because we could not wait any longer. Żabbar had become way too small for us and we had to start branching out," he said.

He said the Żabbar hospital, situated in the village core, creates traffic and parking problems in the area. Moreover, there is no way to expand it enough to meet the increasing demand.

Asked why a piece of land outside development zone had been chosen, Dr Muscat said this was the best among 17 sites in the south looked at by the group.

He said the three-storey hospital - one floor of which will be underground - should be built within two years after the final permit is issued.

"The aim is to have a private hospital in the south of the island but far from village centres. Medicine is constantly evolving and we want this hospital to be equipped with the latest technology while maintaining a homely feeling rather than a clinical one," he said.