Nationalist Party Leader Adrian Delia has declared that he would support the controversial db Group project in Pembroke of it is “in line with planning policies.”

The hotel group plans to build a 37-storey residential tower and a 19-storey complex at the former ITS site.

Speaking on Dissett, Delia said: “Every project has to be decided on whether it is following the planning rules. If a project falls within the rules, than the answer is yes. If not, the answer is no.”

 This was Delia’s first public reaction to the project.

A number of MPs, including former party leader Simon Busuttil and Karol Aquilina have attended protests against the proposed development. The latter has even filed an official objection in his  capacity as a Member of Parliament. Last week a PN spokesperson told this newsroom that Aquilina had not informed the party from beforehand.

The spokesperson said the PN believes that the government should have waited for the conclusions of an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) before the Planning Authority even starts to discuss the impact of the mega development.

The PN, under Busuttil’s leadership, had requested an NAO investigation over the transfer of the former ITS site to the db Group by the government.

When asked how the PN’s representative on the PA board, MP Marthese Portelli, would vote, Delia said the question would have to be put to her.

Speaking in Parliament earlier this week, Portelli slammed the project, arguing that it was in breach of local plans and policies regulating building heights.

In the meantime Transport Minister Ian Borg this week tabled plans of the proposed tunnel db Group says would be vital for the project.

The tunnel would start near the housing estate adjacent to the ITS site, passing under Mediterranean Street, near Australia Hall and finally joining the Coast Road at the junction with Suffolk Street. There would be roundabouts at both ends.

The PA has received more than 4,000 objections to the project. The Church’s environment commission has now written to the chairman of Hard Rock International urging him to force the db Group to ‘rethink’ the project.