Earlier this week, International Hotel Investments plc (IHI), part of the Corinthia Group, announced an upscale mixed-use resort on its 77,000 square metre site in St George’s Bay, including two residential towers.

But when pressed for further comment on the mega-development after the announcement, IHI preferred to keep the project’s details close to its chest.  As such, details of the plans so far are few and far between.

This newspaper had sent a number of questions to the Corinthia Group about the development, none of which were answered, foremost among which was the number of floors the project’s two towers would have.

Regarding the two hotels, this newspaper inquired about the percentage of their floor space and the number of rooms. In view of recent legislation we also asked if the project perimeter facing the sea is going to be 15m or more away from the foreshore. In addition, given the development of residences, another pertinent question that went unanswered was whether the foreshore would once again be open to the public as required by law.

We asked what the total projected investment in the project was going to be and if the financing was in place. Correspondingly, we asked about the number of full-time jobs to be created once the project was completed and if IHI was prepared to bind itself contractually with the government to create them.

The public land in question was originally passed on for the exclusive development of hotels. Now IHI is set to convert a substantial portion of it into real estate. Since the current local plan does not allow such development, we asked why IHI launched the project before these plans are changed.

In reply to this, IHI said that the proposals “remain subject to zoning, planning and land use considerations under discussion with the relevant authorities”. This confirms that IHI discussed this project with the current administration. How much, we asked, is IHI willing to pay to convert its current permits to operate hotels to ones allowing the building and retailing of real estate on a portion of it? In this context we also asked if IHI had discussed the project with the previous Nationalist administration and, if so, what its views had been.

Ignoring all these questions, IHI responded only as follows. “As the press release issued by the company yesterday stated, IHI is still in discussions with the relevant authorities over zoning, planning and land use considerations in relation to plans for its 77,000 square metre site in St George’s Bay. It is inappropriate to elaborate further until this process is concluded. However, please note that it is incorrect to state that IHI has launched this project. It has not. What IHI did at its AGM was to share its plans with shareholders and, subsequently, with the wider public.”

IHI also said that residential units are not being sold on plan.

It is, however, difficult to understand IHI’s claim that they have not actually launched the project given that Corinthia chairman Alfred Pisani had spoken to The Malta Independent about it in March 2015. At the time, he even announced a projected start date of 14 months. More significantly, IHI itself has now publicly issued an artistic impression of the project accompanied by a press release describing it as an “upscale mixed-use resort … including two luxury hotels, upmarket serviced residences, limited commercial and boutique retail areas”.