Over 4,000 people have submitted an objection to the Planning Authority over the proposed 37-storey development at the ITS site in Pembroke as the final day of appeals comes to a close. The controversial project, which includes the sale of public land, has energised local residents and environmentalist groups to a series of public protests.

“A record number of over 4,000 objections to the proposed project on the ITS site has been submitted to the Planning Authority during the objection period that ends today. Whilst thousands of these objections were submitted online, Pembroke residents have also collected hundreds of hard-copy objections, and took them to the PA today,’ said Moviment Graffiti in a statement. 

“People are objecting to this project since it will bury people alive under a massive structure involving a 37-storey tower and a 19-storey hotel that would be built only a few meters away from residents as well as near an area of ecological importance, and without the adequate infrastructure to support it. It would create almost permanent shade for many residents, generate 7,500 car trips daily, produce hazardous dust and extend Paceville into areas planned for residential use,” they said. 

The appeals page with the appeals counter in the upper right hand corner

db Group, the developers behind the project, have proposed a number of green initiatives as well as mitigating factors to minimise the intrusion into local residents’ lives as they build. They also maintain that the price they paid for the public land is the most expensive price for public land that any company has ever paid in Malta. 

The Nationalist party, under the leadership of Simon Busuttil, had called for the National Audit Office to open an investigation into this development, a call that was echoed by Partit Demokratiku. db Group have welcomed the following NAO investigation.

The project involves giving public land that the ITS building currently sits on to the privately-owned db Group for around €60 million. The public land will become a 37-storey residential tower, a 17-storey Hard Rock Hotel featuring 455 rooms, alongside a casino and a shopping mall.

What do you think of the project?

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]