Tourism Authority didn’t grant a license for Portellilinked Mellieħa hotel which had permit revoked

The Malta Tourism Authority did not grant a hotel license for the already-built hotel in Mellieħa, whose permit was recently revoked by a judge, Tourism Minister, Clayton Bartolo, said.

Bartolo said this in response to a Parliamentary question put forward by PL MP Cressida Galea, who had asked whether the hotel was granted a license by the MTA.

Bartolo answered the PL MP’s question, although the MTA would not answer The Shift News’s question, which was asking whether the MTA had granted a hotel license.

In addition, during Parliamentary question time last week, PN MPs Rebekah Borg and Robert Cutajar were grilling Bartolo about his position on the court’s ruling, however Bartolo could only respond by telling the PN MPs that he did not know where the hotel was located.

Cutajar said that Bartolo drives by the hotel every day, and also pointed out that Bartolo was on the Planning Authority board as a government representative, who had voted in favour of the project at the time.

The land of the hotel used to be used for the service of Mellieħa’s community, however after the 2013 general election, the government had seized the land and issued a tender. Cutajar had informed The Malta Independent on Sunday that, at the time, the Mellieħa local council did not utter a word in protest of this.

At the time, the Deputy Mayor of Mellieħa was Bartolo.The project is being led by Portelli’s business partner, Mark Agius, as on behalf of Shopwise Developments M Limited.

The site is at Triq Ħalq iċ-Ċawl c/w Triq L-Iżbark tal-Franċiżi c/w Triq in-Nases c/w Triq IlFortizza, Mellieħa. The total site area is 3,680 square metres. The application read : “Proposed construction of mixed-use complex, comprising a hotel including amenities, retail shops, 120 residential units with underlying basements for vehicle garaging.”

The Court of Appeal, on 10 May, had upheld the application filed by the Mellieħa Local Council, and had revoked part of the planning permit for the development of an eight-storey hotel, which is linked to Gozitan construction magnate, Joseph Portelli. The hotel, in the meantime, has been built.

In the court’s judgment, it said that it was “a fact” that the local plan did not include the possibility of a hotel being built in that area, unless there were “overriding reasons” for the permit to be granted, and as long as there was no “cumulative adverse impact on the locality”.