The Planning Authority has approved a controversial application that will see a large elderly home built on ODZ land, despite two larger sites having been identified within the Naxxar urban area.

The application is to demolish a pre-1978 existing building and to construct a facility for the care of the elderly and nursing home at Gharghur Road, Sqaq L- Imnieqa, Naxxar. The home will have around 234 beds.

A site selection exercise had been conducted by the applicant, and two sites had been identified within Naxxar where such a development could be built. The two sites however, did not end up being financially feasible, an issue argued against by Carmel Cacopardo, on behalf of residents who objected to the application.

Architect Carmel Cacopardo spoke on behalf of residents, slammed the decision by the applicants to move forward with the ODZ land proposal, when the site selection process showed two potential sites within scheme, that are larger than the ODZ proposal. “When one looks at the SPED parameters, it emphasises that the site selection must be based on sustainable use, not on a financially feasible use. There is a large difference between terms. The way it has been interpreted puts emphasis on financial feasibility. The SPED does not speak of this anywhere, but mentions feasibility which is wider than financial feasibility, and it also emphasises sustainability.

“The site selection process identified two sites that it describes as having very good potential. Both are in the Naxxar urban zone.  One is three times larger than the area needed for this project (around 11,000 sqm) and the other is over 6,000 sqm.” Cacopardo stated that the only real financial feasibility issue would be the value of the land, given that ODZ land is cheaper than land within scheme.

 “The Authority’s obligation is to keep the community in mind,” he said.

“When authorities draw up development lines, I imagine they are done with respect to the whole community.  The issue we have before us is, whether the value of land in scheme which costs more than land in scheme, is a valid enough reason to have the development on ODZ land.”

“It would be a mistake for the authority to put financial feasibility before the sustainability of the exercise. It is your obligation to analyse sustainability more so than the reports we have for consideration before us.”

“The Proposal can occur within scheme, so in the interest of the community you should not consider ODZ application.”

The consultant who drew up the site selection exercise which identified the possible alternative sites within scheme was asked to speak by the board. She said that they drew up the site selection process and the Planning directorate went back to the applicant and asked for a feasibility study, not conducted by her firm. The planning directorate, she said, then looked at the study, and wrote a letter to the applicant advising him to look outside the development scheme. “The applicant then came back to us, and we conducted a separate site selection exercise on land outside scheme.”

The applicant’s lawyer, on financial feasibility, highlighted that this is an application for an elderly home, so one must keep that in mind in terms of financial feasibility due to costs to government who rents beds and cost to residents who would use the home themselves. The project architect added that such projects are more suitable for village fringes rather than village cores. The architect said that the site is literally just opposite the Naxxar urban area and is situated on already disturbed land.

PA CEO Johann Buttigieg said that the issues seem to be on the site selection issues. He said that following the site selection, the prices of the sites in scheme were available to the Planning Directorate as well as the applicant. He said that the applicant was unsure whether he could sustainably build on those sites, and thus a feasibility study was commissioned. The study showed that the applicant could not build an old peoples home on those sites and earn back the amount spent within a reasonable time and thus was not considered to be sustainable.

The Naxxar and Gharghur local councils both also objected to the application, and despite this, in addition to the objections of many residents and a number of NGOs, the Planning Board opted to grant permission. The ERA Chairman and a few other representatives on the board did vote against.