The owners of SmartCity have “suspended” the process of seeking drastic changes to the originally planned ICT city’s master plan, approved by Parliament in 2008, as developers and the Planning Authority have found an innovative way to circumvent height and building space limitations imposed in the original plan, Times of Malta is informed.

As the Planning Authority is this week expected to green-light a massive private development – known as The Shoreline – which is in breach of the limitations imposed in the original master plan, sources told Times of Malta that following discussions “a way was found on how to issue the permit without the need for a new master plan and avoid the approval of Parliament”.

In an attempt to bypass the master plan’s limitations and expedite the private multi-million residential and commercial project, SmartCity, which sold two massive plots to the developers of The Shoreline a few years ago, agreed to transfer building space (gross floor area) and height limitations from other still unbuilt blocks onto the ones sold on The Shoreline.

This was accepted and justified by the Planning Authority as according to its case officer “the changes from the parameters established by the master plan with regards to the transfer of gross floor area and heights are agreed by SmartCity Malta and would not affect the overall development density within SmartCity.”

Times of Malta is informed this is the first time that such ‘bartering’ within the same master plan is being used by the Planning Authority to justify a planning permit. 

This ‘innovative’ way on how changes are being permitted to the SmartCity master plan will result in The Shoreline rising to 11 storeys on the Xgħajra promontory, although the master plan only permits seven storeys. At the same time the mass of building will now reach 55,000 square metres when the original two plots had to have a maximum of under 20,000 square metres of building.

The master plan and the deal signed imposed various conditions

In its calculations, the Planning Authority also accepted that a whole basement floor, to be part of a commercial complex, will not count in the overall building space to be deducted from the SmartCity building footprint arguing that the whole floor “does not qualify as ground floor area under the definition of the master plan”.

Once completed, the massive development will include some 400 luxury flats, the majority one-bedroomed, almost 14,000 square metres of rentable commercial space, mostly shops, and another 1,500 square metres of bars and restaurants. 

Various underground floors will also be developed into a car park for about 1,000 cars.

The development will be clearly visible from many vantage points on the island including the promenade in Sliema.

A few months after The Shoreline development was announced, SmartCity presented an application to the Planning Authority to change the master plan to fit in the new development. These changes required time and the final approval of Parliament.

However, this master plan application has now been suspended after the ‘new solution’ was found.

The private development will be carried by Shoreline Residence Ltd with a South African businessman, Ryan Otto, being the main shareholder in the development. 

The Maltese shareholding in this business venture include Roderick Psaila, former CEO of AgriBank plc, and his wife, and lawyers Kevin Deguara and Jean Carl Farrugia, owners of legal firm DF Advocates.

In 2008, through a parliamentary resolution, some 350,000 square metres of public land in Kalkara was transferred to SmartCity on a temporary emphyteusis basis for 99 years on a cheap ground rent basis in order to be turned into an ICT city.

However, despite that the master plan and the deal signed with the government imposed various conditions, including how the development had to be developed in phases, by when and the obligation to create thousands of ICT-related jobs, none of the targets have been met.

The government has a 10% shareholding in SmartCity and is represented on the board of directors by Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.