NGOs to meet and decide on St George’s Bay tower appeal plans
NGOs and other stakeholders are to work on getting an accurate estimate of how much it will cost to appeal the controversial approval of the db Group’s 37-storey St George’s Bay tower, activist Andre Callus has told The Malta Independent.
The meeting follows a series of controversies culminating in the Planning Authority’s 10-4 vote in favour of approving the group’s €300 million City Centre project on the former ITS site. The appeal is currently estimated to cost €20,000, meaning that each of the 4,000 objectors would theoretically have to fork out €5.
Callus, a member of Moviment Graffitti – one of the more vocal groups against the project – explains that they “don’t have an accurate estimate right now,” which is one of the issues that will be raised during Wednesday’s meeting with other organisations.
“What we know for sure is that it will cost €3,500 to lodge the appeal. We will have to see what other fees might be incurred for resources and professionals, and if anyone is willing to work pro-bono. It depends on a lot of factors.”
The latest controversies surrounding the project include last week’s revelation that Planning Authority board member Jacqueline Gili was flown to Malta on a private jet at the taxpayer’s expense in order to case her vote, and alleged conflicts of interest concerning fellow board members Matthew Pace and Clayton Bartolo, which they have both denied.
The project has also seen a massive number of objections filed – over 4,000 – by the public, local councils, and NGOs on a number of grounds, including an insufficient amount of open space, fragmented development as a result of lack of a comprehensive master plan for the area, as well as a pending investigation into the transfer of the site covered by the application. Other arguments include the potentially detrimental visual impact, alleged abuse of the hotel height limitation adjustment policy, the project’s impact on traffic, the increased pollution as a result of the project, and the proximity of the high-rise development to residential areas.
Criticism has also come from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who said, when asked to comment on the Planning Authority’s use of a private jet to fly in a board member, that it had taken this decision without informing the government, indicating his disapproval.
Leader of the Opposition Adrian Delia, meanwhile, has called for an inquiry into what led the Planning Authority to take such a step.
The last time an appeal of comparable scale was launched was back in 2016, when appellants went up against the Quad Towers and Townsquare developments in Mrieħel and Sliema respectively. Only the latter appeal was successful.