Manoel Island Developers Defend Project Increase In Ground Coverage After Backlash From PN MP
PN MP Albert Buttigieg has blasted the Manoel Island development plan, saying that Malta lost a golden opportunity by not turning the space into an open park for families.
However, a spokesperson from MIDI, the consortium responsible for the project, clapped back, reminding that the plans include an 80,000 square metre public park.
“With sadness but with respect for the truth and the residents, politicians from both sides have a responsibility for this! Wrong priorities! The truth has no colors!” Buttigieg wrote on social media, lamenting the loss of an opportunity as well as an already established charming open space.
Buttigieg was responding to the news that new buildings over a 20,400sq.m footprint on Manoel Island are set to be approved by the Planning Authority, amping up the coverage of the islet to 7%. 1% more than that proposed in the plans issued three years ago.
Originally, the PA granted an outline permit for the entire MIDI project in Tigné and Manoel Island in 1999, envisioning a development on a much larger scale. However, a reduced-scale masterplan received approval in 2021.
Despite this, the project’s layout has undergone further changes due to archaeological findings, mainly related to old cemeteries.
“The masterplan for Manoel Island contemplates significant open spaces including an 80,000 sqm Fort Manoel glacis public park. Furthermore, the revised masterplan includes a new public open area measuring 35,000 sqm spanning from the entrance of the Island to the Lazzaretto including a 10,000 sqm indigenous garden,” MIDI told Lovin Malta in light of the controversy.
“To ensure a largely pedestrianised car-free streetscape, vehicular access will be limited. Apart from the main throughways, cars will be directed to underground public and private car parking facilities.”
The latest plans have increased private open spaces seemingly at the expense of public ones. Public open spaces are being reduced by 5,000 square metres while private ones are increasing in a newly created gated community by 12,500 square metres.
The plans have further excluded development on archaelogically-sensitive areas but they include a considerable 10,125sq.m increase in gross floor area of apartments when compared to the masterplan.
Yet, the development is not going higher. The growth of residential space is being achieved by reducing the floor area of shops and restaurants to 4,600 square metres not by increasing approved heights.
The development will consist of three residential clusters making up a total of 323 residential units (reduced from 499 units as approved in the original masterplan)
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