“How long will the authorities be servile to Portelli’s arrogance?” it questioned. 

The development is being opposed by a large number of residents, as well as civil society groups, all of whom have expressed their despair at the fact that nobody appears to be able, or willing, to enforce the law with Portelli. The 64 flat-project has been opposed by the Qala Local Council and two environmental NGOs, Moviment Graffitti and Din L-Art Helwa, for which they filed an appeal.

“The whole project in Ta’ Kassja is an irregular one because, due to false statements, it has been divided into four different stages in order to evade the scrutiny that applies to large projects,” the NGO said.

Moviment Graffitti also deemed the project to be totally unacceptable, saying that they expect immediate action to be taken.

An Environmental Impact Assessment was never carried out for the proposed development prior to issuing the permit, even though the site exceeds 30,000 sqm of land. 

The Environment and Planning tribunal had also rejected the organisations’ and residents’ requests to suspend the works until the appeal hearing is decided.

The disputed project is part of an entire saga involving Carravan Company Limited, which has been serving as a medium in the transfer and reselling of land. The company was set up back in 2017, making €1.5 million from last May’s sales alone.

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