Seventeen years ago, Midi consortium was granted a lucrative land deal by the Nationalist administration to build luxury apartments at Tignè Point in return for restoring Fort Manoel and, as an additional sweetener, developing a luxury “Mediterranean-style village” on the island.
Although the outline planning development permit issued before the concession to Midi was granted included a condition requiring the foreshore to be made accessible “throughout the construction and operational phases” of the development, the consortium fenced off large parts of the island soon after the land deal was signed, thus preventing public access to the foreshore.
The high-density Tignè Point development has been completed, raking in millions of euros for the developers. But, today, apart from an excellent restoration of Fort Manoel, which was completed about two years ago and lies unutilised to this day, Manoel Island itself remains undeveloped and dilapidated. Works on the planned “Mediterranean” village have not begun.
The public has effectively been locked out of the place by the consortium. Last autumn, to broad public approval, Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent – together with the mayor of Gżira – led a citizen’s action group to re-occupy Manoel Island and enjoy access to the foreshore. In the wake of this, Midi reached an agreement after weeks of protests to allow limited access, under surveillance, between 8am and 8pm on weekends.
Midi have now applied to install extensive temporary fencing. Their plan is to enclose most of Manoel Island behind 2.2 metre-high wire mesh fencing, leaving one accessible route open to the foreshore. The company said this would allow for full public access to the foreshore, which would not be limited, as it is now, only to the weekends.
The Friends of Manoel Island, an NGO, maintain that Midi has no legal authority to put up fencing as, according to the terms of the 99-year concession, it is only the government that can ban public access and then only to allow development of the site. The local council also opposes the installation of new fencing and seeks jurisdiction over Manoel Island.
A meeting between the stakeholders and Midi is due to be held today when the company is expected to present its master plan for the site.
The concession granted of a 99-year emphyteusis – which many would today regard as over-generous and ill-judged – gives the consortium only one third of the total area of Manoel Island, with the foreshore being specifically excluded from the contract. The Public Domain Act, passed last year, automatically classifies the first 15 metres of the coastline and the surrounding seabed as being public domain sites.
But there are two wider issues at stake. First, for the people of Gżira, Ta’ Xbiex and Sliema, Manoel Island is the only natural open space in an otherwise heavily populated, urbanised and traffic-polluted area. Given that the island is the only ‘lung’ for thousands who live close by, the case for the two-thirds of Manoel Island that do not form part of the Midi consortium’s lease to become a public park are unarguable. There is a strong moral case for the Gżira local council to be given absolute jurisdiction and responsibility over the two-thirds that have not been ceded to Midi.
Secondly, there is another powerful moral case to oblige Midi to allow regular public access to the outstanding historic site of Fort Manoel, which is an intrinsic part of Malta’s cultural heritage and whose restoration for the public’s enjoyment was the undoubted basis of the deal reached with the consortium almost two decades ago.