Project Reach, a community Hub for disabled persons is planned to be up and running by 2022.

The Malta Independent asked the Parliamentary Secretary for Persons with Disability and Active Ageing Anthony Agius Decelis about the hub which was first mentioned years ago.

Agius Decelis explained that excavation works have begun, and that the hub will have the first ever one-stop-shop for persons with disability; where people can go with any queries related to their disability, or with queries for a family member who lives with a disability.

“This is a €32 million project, €9 million of which comes from EU funds,”, explained Agius Decelis. He said that the complex will have a hostel which will welcome foreigners with disabilities coming to Malta for a holiday.

He explained that the hostel will not compete with other hostels on the island, but it will be different because it will have include support facilities for those who have disabilities. “It will not just be for people with disabilities, but an intergenerational complex for everyone. 70% of the area will not be built up, providing a lot of open space.”

Discussions on the Naxxar disability hub date back to 2016, when Justyne Caruana was the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for the sector at the time. The complex was also mentioned in the Budget 2016. The complex will consist of four fully detached blocks surrounded by a large landscaped open area and an underground car park.

The purpose of the complex is to create a community hub, where persons with disability or those visiting the site can have full access to all the facilities. The development, which will consist of four separate blocks, will comprise of semi-independent living residential units, a community building, restaurant and cafeteria, a retail outlet, offices, gym and therapy Pool, landscaped areas and a basement parking area. According to the application, there will be a total of 78 residential units as well as 26 hostel rooms.

In 2017, two objection letters had been submitted which stated that the proposed development will add to the traffic problems in the area. It also mentioned that the development is not fit for the area, San Pawl it-Targa in Naxxar, which is mainly a residential area.  The objectors also argued that the concept of a disability hub detaches them from the community, and goes against the provisions of the Equal Opportunities (Persons and Disability) Act and CRPD guidelines which recommend that persons with disability not be physically segregated.”

The Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability had opposed the project in its first iteration in 2015, so much so, that it had explicitly mentioned such opposition in its four-year-report presented to the United Nations in criticism of Government’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.

More so, the plans for the project were fundamentally rethought following CRPD’s critique, which it offered through the appropriate channels.

Such channels include its council, composed of persons with disabilities and their representatives, academics, service providers and a member chosen by government and another representing the opposition. Earlier this year, the Council was given a presentation on the project and a frank discussion ensued, during which it was decided that the Commission should request to monitor the project to ensure it does not breach the rights of persons with disability.

Currently another large scale project, just near the site on the Trade Fair grounds close to where the hub will be located, is in the works with designs and drawings being submitted to the Planning Authority. The application would see the demolition of the trade Fair building, excavation and construction of a mixed development consisting of over 400 residential units, in addition to offices, retail spaces and 1,130 underground parking spaces. If this project is given the go ahead by the PA, there are concerns that the quiet residential area of San Pawl Tat-Targa will struggle to cope with two massive construction projects being developed side by side.