A court has ordered the destruction of a block of apartments built on public land in Triq it-Torri, San Lawrenz. A year ago, the Lands Department filed an application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against Joe Attard and Island Developments. The court, presided over by magistrate Anthony Ellul, ruled yesterday that the building should be demolished at the developer’s expense. The court heard that by means of a 1991 agreement, the Church had passed on the site in question to the government. Island Developments director Mark Grech told the court that the company was and still is ready to provide adequate compensation for the site, and this was always stated in meetings with government representatives. He stated that he knew “that this land is government property”. In its ruling, the court said that when the company started building the block of apartments, it was well aware that the land was owned by the government. In fact, on 20 October 2006, the company made a request to buy the land. But Mr Grech told the court that the company couldn’t wait until it bought the land from the government, since the planned project included the portion of land owned by the government. “I know for a fact that we didn’t have the right to build on this portion of land, but since the permit had been issued, the project had to go on,” said Mr Grech. The court ruled that the demolition be carried out under the direction and supervision of architect Mario Cassar.