MIDI Silent After Manoel Island Meeting With Prime Minister
Executives from developers MIDI declined to comment following a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela on Wednesday morning, as pressure mounts over the future of Manoel Island.
The meeting at Castille comes days after MIDI issued a public statement expressing openness to “finding a solution” that could return Manoel Island to public ownership – a shift that has energised activists calling for the area to become a national park.
When approached by Times of Malta journalists after the meeting, MIDI CEO Mark Portelli refused to comment on how the talks went or whether he was satisfied with the outcome.
On Monday, MIDI pushed back against a judicial letter filed by the Government of Malta, the Lands Authority, and the Malta Transport Authority which accused the company of breaching its emphyteutical concession — a 99-year lease granted in 2000 — by failing to meet project completion deadlines.
In its statement, MIDI “rejected these allegations in no uncertain terms,” insisting there is “no valid legal basis for rescission nor the imposition of penalties.” It argued that the contract includes specific safeguards allowing for an extension of the completion date by at least 10 years. It also said that since a full development permit for Manoel Island has not yet been issued, the completion timeline remains suspended under the terms of the deed.
“The company will vigorously defend its position,” it said, adding that it will formally respond to the judicial letter and take all necessary legal steps to protect its rights.
Despite this defiant stance, MIDI reiterated its position — first stated in a separate stock exchange announcement on Sunday — that it is willing to engage with government “to implement Government’s stated objective for Manoel Island whilst at the same time safeguarding the Company’s rights.”
That statement came just hours after Prime Minister Abela told ONE News that he was actively exploring ways to return Manoel Island to the public, while protecting the small shareholders — many of them pensioners — who had invested in the project through the stock exchange.
Abela has said that MIDI may have breached the concession agreement and argued that the original deal, signed under a Nationalist administration in 2000, gave too much away for too little in return. “Everyone knows the damage that was done to the environment in Tigné Point,” he said, referring to the other site covered by the concession.
Activist groups Moviment Graffitti and Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar insist the contract should be scrapped entirely due to the failure to meet the 2026 completion deadline. They argue that the government has the necessary legal and political leverage to reclaim the site and have collected 29,000 signatures in support of turning Manoel Island into a national park.
With both the government and MIDI now publicly acknowledging the possibility of renegotiating the island’s future, attention will turn to whether a concrete deal can be struck — and whether it can satisfy both public demand and shareholder expectations.
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