PN MP Marthese Portelli today slammed the ITS site project by db Group in Parliament, highlighting the ridiculously low price they paid government for public land. 

She said that the Planning Authority has an obligation to regulate and direct. As such, she said, when there is something that is manifestly wrong, the PA can never continue processing an application, otherwise it would be complicit in what was wrongly done in the first place.

“Public land does not belong to the Prime Minister, and belongs to no minister,” she said, while highlighting that no PL MPs were present in the room to listen to criticism. It was at this point that PL Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Silvio Parnis walked in, and objected, saying that PL MPs were present in the building, and following from the government’s rooms.

She said that government has an obligation to suspend the project pending the ongoing NAO investigation. While calling for transparency in the whole process, she mentioned that there was none in the land-transfer process.

Portelli slammed the PA for not listening to concerned residents, and quoted legislation arguing that public land cannot be given in a way that disadvantages other economic operators. She argued that the tender was issued over a Christmas break, and questioned who would spend their break going through government gazette’s with a fine tooth comb. She said that now, the Planning Application will head before the Planning Authority during the Summer break. “This is not right.”

She also said that the title of the tender did not mention residential units.

She highlighted that the initial offer by the db Group was very low, and that according to the law, very low offers are to be disregarded. Instead, she said, the government renegotiated, “yet the price is still too low for the public.”

She mentioned that the project requires an upfront payment of just €5 million. She said that the site is situated in Malta’s golden mile, and the site is 24,000sqm large.

Prior to this, she said,  government sold another plot nearby, which was 650sqm. “The person who won this tender had to pay €3.2 million. Even taking previous sites, like Fort Cambridge which is around 8,700 sqm, government charged €54 million. How can someone come to Parliament to find an excuse and say that this land was sold for good value. “

She mentioned that the design of the project is ugly according to an advisory board. She also said that the project goes against the local plan, and against the FAR policy. She said that the Prime Minister would not answer who would pay for the tunnel, and that Muscat seems to have forgotten that there is no masterplan, given that he told journalists to go and see it when asked about the tunnel.

She mentioned that the new owner is already trying to sell parts of the property when the necessary permits are not present, on public land received through a contract being investigated by the NAO.