There might be a glimmer of hope in the Manoel Island foreshore access saga as MIDI says it is willing to discuss some form of compromise. CEO Luke Coppini insists, however, that turning Manoel Island into a free-for-all is out of the question.

The controversy over the lack of access to the foreshore erupted after the Gzira Local Council went to court some weeks ago, and reached its peak last Saturday, when activists broke the locks on MIDI’s gates and invited the public in. MIDI has since closed off access to Manoel Island after claiming that vandalism took place over the weekend, something which the activists deny.

The Malta Independent yesterday spoke to Mr Coppini and asked whether MIDI could reach some sort of compromise and allow access to the foreshore without opening up the private areas.

“We have a legal right to close off access to Manoel Island. People need to know that the buildings are private and, as per the concession agreement, belong to the consortium. There are two main reasons why the area is closed off. The first is for security reasons. Some parts of Manoel Island can be quite dangerous. We cannot allow people to roam around freely if there is a chance that they might injure themselves inside our property.”

Mr Coppini also noted that Manoel Island had previously been widely used by drug addicts.

“Secondly we are doing this to protect the historical buildings, many of which are in a very delicate state. Whatever the activists say we can assure you that acts of vandalism have been carried out over the past few days, when the island was open to the public.”

The MIDI CEO admitted that the foreshore was public land and said people were free to visit by boat. Asked if this was unfair on those who did not own a boat, Mr Coppini said: “What choice do we have? We cannot just have people running around all over the place. The contract says that MIDI has right to close access to foreshore during construction work, however long that may take. Once the project is complete there will be many public areas.”

He added: “We do not believe that giving access to the foreshore at this stage is ideal but we are willing to discuss with the government to see whether a compromise can be found. We are effectively willing to waive off our right to limit access to the island.”

He said MIDI was willing to see whether the public could be given direct access to the foreshore without being allowed to enter private areas but stressed that this was “not conducive in the current spirit of things.”

“The situation has escalated very quickly with these events being held very close to each other. Any compromise would have to be reached through civil discussion but it seems that the (Gzira) Mayor and the activists have other interests.”

The activists are in the meantime planning to hold a clean-up event at Manoel Island on Saturday.

“I cannot stop them,” Mr Coppini said. Asked whether he would open the gates, the MIDI CEO said he would be seeking legal advice but opening the gates did not make sense. “When we opened the gate for them they broke in anyway so I might as well keep the gates closed this time.”

He added: “If they want to postpone the activity and join us around the table we are willing to sit to down with them.”

Mr Coppini added that the activity was pointless since there is “hardly any trash” around Manoel Island. “They will only find a few beer cans, most of which were left behind last weekend, and overgrown weeds.”

The MIDI CEO also said that, should a compromise be found, the central government and the Gzira council would then be expected to do their part with regard to the cleaning and upkeep of public areas.