NGO Calls For All Communications Between Lands Ministry And Developers Behind Villa Rosa And Mellieħa Heights Projects To Be Published
Il-Kollettiv is calling for all communications between the Lands Ministry, lands authority personnel and the developers behind the controversial Villa Rosa and Mellieħa Heights projects to be published, after the ministry refuted the NGO’s claims related to the abuse of power.
Yesterday, the activist organisation called for an investigation into Lands Minister Silvio Schembri for the dealings that led to land acquisitions in St Julian’s and Mellieħa to two members of the Malta Developers Association (MDA).
It accused the minister as well as Lands CEO Robert Vella of abusing their positions to sell public land to Anton Camilleri (tal-Franċiż) – who’s behind the Villa Rosa project in St George’s Bay – and Paul Attard – who is developing the Mellieħa Heights project – for a fraction of the original price before an election.
The ministry subsequently refuted these accusations and called them “baseless and misleading”. It said that “all the facts are verifiable in clear manner.”
In return, the organisation is calling for the immediate publication of all communications between the Ministry, Lands Authority personnel, the developers and their representatives, including emails and Whatsapp chats, as well as a register of all meetings between the parties involved in these two agreements.
It continued to note that previously, Schembri had been asked in Parliament whether the Lands Authority had ever issued a tender to sell the land in Mellieħa, he said he couldn’t answer because the information was still being gathered.
“We hope that by now, this information has been gathered, and can be published for public scrutiny.”
The NGO’s accusations
Il-Kollettiv called for an investigation into Schembri yesterday on social media. It pointed out that Camilleri acquired a public alley for just €134,000 in a bid presented just two days before the 2022 general election.
The NGO’s Secretary General Wayne Flask explained that Camilleri needed a “heavy discount” to buy a piece of land for his “self-funded” project.
“He got it for a tenth of its original price, right before the election,” said Flask.
While in Mellieħa, Attard is paying just €380,000 annually for a piece of land worth €15 million. “Attard and his partner can develop 109 flats and 171 garages at the price of just one apartment per year.”
The organisation, led also by former PL politician Cyrus Engerer, went on to criticise Opposition Party leader Bernard Grech for “repeating the PL’s lie” that that the local plans cannot be changed, as he has done with Zurrieq.
“The Opposition isn’t worthy of its name or of being in government, if daylight robbery of this sort goes by without a whimper. So much for the rule of law!”
In a response to the accusations, the minister’s office emphasised that the Lands Authority’s management processes are administered independently by the Board of Directors, which includes Opposition representation. It said that Schembri is not involved “at any moment” in operational decisions.
Both projects have stirred quite a bit of controversy on the island. The most recent contentious news revolved around the Cabinet’s decision to greenlight a partial review of St George’s Bay’s local plans. This review will reportedly enable the multiplication of Attard’s Villa Rosa project. Attard already has a pending permit application intended to expand the project massively.
These plans involve the construction of a 34-storey tower and two 27-storey ones in the already-sold site. Last year, an Environmental Impact Assessment concluded that this mega-development would majorly impact the environment and air quality.
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