Marsascala local council asks for holistic plan for area given heavy development

The Marsascala Local Council has asked Transport Minister Ian Borg and Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Chris Agius to create a holistic plan for Marsascala to ensure that development is sustainable and that everyone’s interests are safeguarded, independent local councillor Charlot Cassar told The Malta Independent.

He explained that during the last local council meeting, he brought up the issue of the sheer amount of development as well as proposals planned for the area, including AUM, Jerma, the extension of a fuel station, and many others.

The discussion saw parking issues highlighted, as well as traffic congestion. The council came to an agreement to write to Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg to draw up a holistic plan for the area, given that the infrastructure within the locality is struggling to handle the current demand.

Cassar, speaking with this newsroom, said that currently there are many individual project gaining public attention, but said that nobody is looking at the collective effects of all the projects on the area as a whole.

Marsascala has been the home of many a controversial project application, the largest of which were about the American University of Malta campus which will be situated at Zonqor point, and the potential Jerma hotel development.

Just last July, the Marsascala Local Council had agreed on a number of objections to the recently updated plans for the former Jerma Palace Hotel site, where developers have officially proposed a hotel and residential development rising up to 14 storeys.

The most recent application which surfaced in the media was for a nine storey home for the elderly in Marsascala by Lay Lay Co. Ltd, of which Michael Axisa is a shareholder. The local council object to this development.