Desiree Attard, Labour Marsaskala deputy mayor, condemned the Jerma high-rise project which is being proposed to include 166 apartments and a 250-room hotel.

MaltaToday, last Sunday revealed that the existing run-down Jerma hotel is proposed for demolition, and its redevelopment as a high-rise building, with residential units spread over 13 floors and the hotel to rise to 15 floors. This information emerged from a project development statement.

The demolition and reconstruction will result in 78,000 cubic meters of excavation waste and 30,000 cubic meters of demolition waste. The project will also include a basement level which will feature a carpark, lido facilities, a chapel and a commercial establishment.

Attard said that residents are being "short-changed" and that it is "a spectacularly bad deal for citizens."

The aim of the project, for the developers, is an overhaul of this building and to replace it with a "luxurious development."

In August 2016 Attard had backed a proposal made by a former PN councillor Charlot Cassar, for the government to take over the Jerma Hotel site and turn it into a public space.