The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) has joined the chorus of disapproval over the presence of an oil platform in St Paul’s Bay.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise and the Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) both expressed their disapproval and anger that the owners of the oil platform were granted permission to take it into the bay at the peak of the country’s tourist season.

Likewise, MHRA president Josef Formosa Gauci said the platform should be moved to a non-tourist area.

Ever since the oil platform appeared in St Paul’s Bay about two weeks ago, hoteliers and restaurateurs in the area have complained about its presence in a populated tourist area and at the height of the tourist season, said Mr Formosa Gauci.

He explained that the platform was first anchored close to a hotel in Bighi, Kalkara at a time when an important conference was under way.

He said the MHRA had filed a request to the Malta Maritime Authority and the Office of the Prime Minister, for the oil platform to be moved elsewhere.

Although they were told it might be too expensive and too dangerous to move the platform, it was nevertheless moved to St Paul’s Bay.