An application to build a hotel on land Outside Development Zone in Dingli is facing backlash from environmental activist group, Moviment Graffitti. 

The tourist complex would add a hotel and ancillary requirements, including parking and drainage, in what Moviment Graffitti describes would “ultimately lead to the destruction of another protected ODZ area.”

The applicant of the project is Sunroutes Hotel Ltd which is owned by JB Group. The project’s architect is JG Periti.

“We are objecting to an application on the outskirts of Dingli which seeks to build a sprawling tourist complex on ODZ as well as in the vicinity of a Natura 2000 site as well as several Special Protection Areas,” it said. 

While arguing that the project would generate development pressures on the coastal cliffs and rural surroundings, Moviment Graffitti also suggested that it would lead to “further development of the protected site and surroundings.”

“The proposed project is described as a tourism development, and thus does not need to be situated in such a location. Previous applications to develop this site were rejected, citing its classification as a protected area as one of the reasons for refusal,” it continued. 

Movement Graffitti also claimed that Infrastructure Malta has begun with a number of public works to facilitate the project, including “extensive trenching works” leading to the site in question, which currently houses an abandoned firework factory. 

“If these public works have been done to help facilitate the approval of this current application, the application is then even more objectionable and should be rejected immediately,” it ended.

Last month, Moviment Graffitti also raised concerns over a field in Dingli that had been earmarked for the construction of a new road. As a sign of protest, activists spent two weeks camping at the field in an attempt to stop construction work.

What do you make of this? Let us know below