The Nationalist Party believes that the government should have waited for the conclusions of an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) before the Planning Authority even starts to discuss the impact of db Group’s mega development project in Pembroke, a party spokesperson said.
The PN was asked whether the party’s stance on the controversial project had changed, after Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina, in his capacity as a Member of Parliament, filed an official objection against the project.
The PN had requested an NAO investigation over the transfer of the former ITS site to the db Group, which plans to build a 37-storey residential tower and a 19-storey complex. The government had been accused of selling the land off for ‘peanuts.’
A number of floors have been sold to real estate agents, who are already selling ‘sea view’ apartments despite the fact that the project has not yet been approved.
The project has been met with strong opposition, particularly by residents of Pembroke, St Julian’s and other nearby areas. The Planning Authority has received a staggering 4,000 objections, a record number for any project ever carried out in Malta.
A number of protests have been held to object to the massive development, with residents saying that the project will ‘bury them alive.’
Many environmental groups have formally objected to the project. On Friday eNGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) said in a statement: “This is a proposal of unparalleled hideousness - a monstrous and overbearing development which will consign residents to the permanent shadows cast by the exaggeratedly massive buildings."
The Partit Demokratiku has also joined that list. It says the Auditor General is still investigating the way the land was transferred to the db Group, and noted that the PA is not recognising this fact.
PN MP Karol Aquilina, who runs on Pembroke’s 10th district and has attended the protests, announced in a Facebook post last week that he had also filed an official objection.
“Just filed a formal objection with the Planning Authority to the proposed DB Group project on the ITS site in St Julian's, a project designed to line the pockets of greedy developers at the expense of Pembroke’s residents,” Aquilina wrote in a Facebook post.
Replying to questions by this newspaper, a PN spokesperson said Aquilina had filed the objection in his capacity as a Member of Parliament.
The party was not informed beforehand.
Asked whether Aquilina’s action reflected the party’s stance on the project, the PN said it believes that nothing should happen before the NAO investigation is concluded.