Seven NGOs are giving the Planning Authority 10 days to withdraw an irregular 100,000 square metre development brief of the Jerma Hotel in Marsaskala before proceeding to take them on in court.

A judicial protest filed in May from the NGOs claims that the PA chose to include further areas to the development during a consultation for the drawing up for the site last year. A lawsuit has now been filed.

The site is being earmarked for the development of a 15-storey hotel and apartment complex. Submitted in 2018, Porto Notos Limited proposed building 166 luxury apartments, 250 hotel rooms, an underground parking, business centre, public chapel and a lido

The NGOs say that the new brief includes a green area which should be accessible to the public and where no increase in height or volume is permitted, as well as a heritage site for which there is already a policy applicable. An area of 100,000 square metres which should be developed within the site was also arbitrarily laid down.

“In view of the fact that the consultation exercise was not in line with the applicable laws and policies, the organisations had given ten days to the Authority to withdraw the flawed Jerma Development Brief. Since the Planning Authority failed to do so, the organisations had no other option but to open a lawsuit against the PA.”

“If the defective Development Brief proposed by the PA goes ahead, it would lead to a massive development project that impacts negatively the infrastructure of Marsaskala and the lives of residents, with no long-term benefit to the locality,” the NGOs said in a statement.

The organisations that filed the judicial protest are:

1. Din l-Art Ħelwa
2. Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar
3. Green House
4. Moviment Graffitti
5. Nature Trust Malta
6. Ramblers Association of Malta
7. The Archaeological Society of Malta

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