The developers behind plans to build 71 apartments over pristine agricultural land in Nadur do not own part of the site that they are planning to build on, three objectors to the project have claimed.
In representations filed with the Planning Authority (PA), the three people claimed that they are in fact co-owners of part the site where Titan Developments Ltd plan to build a complex of 71 apartments.
The application by Titan Developments Ltd, whose shareholders are Joseph Grima and Victor Hili, proposes the construction of 74 garages across two basement levels, a single communal pool and 71 apartments rising 4 storeys (excluding the ground level) at its highest point.
The application is on fields in Triq il-Qortin in an area of Nadur known as Tas-Sajtun, which is on the border of the development zone, having been part of the 2006 rationalisation exercise. Small parts of the development are in outside development zones.
The fields which the developer wishes to build the project on are all still in use.
The application’s existence was first revealed by The Malta Independent in the beginning of January this year.
Amongst the objections to the project are three letters requesting that the PA refuses the development on the basis that the developer does not actually own all of the site that they plan to develop.
Objectors Edmund Vella, Mary DeBono Borg, and Sonia Mifsud told the PA that they are the co-owners of around a third of the site and that the developers had made a false declaration in saying that they own all of the site.
Indeed, in the Public Application Form – which is one of the first documents that one must submit when applying for any planning permit from the PA – Titan Developments Ltd selected the “I am an owner of the entire site” option.
The objectors however said in their representation that “the applicant has not submitted any legal proof in support of his claim, especially with regards to my property, and therefore I request that this application be refused.”
They also reserved the right to make further written and oral submissions and requested to be present at all hearings and site inspections made by the relative board in connection with the application.
Since it was first exposed by The Malta Independent, the proposal has attracted stinging criticism and over 1,000 objections, with many arguing that the development will permanently alter the Gozo skyline given that it is on Nadur’s outskirts and fearing that the project is yet another sign that the development frenzy that Malta has succumb to is spreading to the sister island as well.
Indeed, residents who contacted this newsroom said that locals living in the area do not want a 71-apartment building “to take over the large majority of the countryside road. We do not want a huge influx of people coming to the quiet area. We demand that our street remain part of the countryside as it is.”
“The site, while mostly is within development zone, is on arable land and this would create a precedent to destroy existing fields,” one resident argued.
While the developers have not responded to the objections – at least as far as publicly available documentation goes – a joint investigation by Lovin Malta and The Shift a few days ago revealed that the tract of land is one of those claimed by the medieval foundation which has left homeowners across Nadur worried that they may not actually own their own homes.
The investigation found that the land where this development is slated to take place – known as Tas-Sajtun – was transferred to a company called Carravan Company Ltd by the medieval foundation Beneficcju ta Sant Antonio delli Navarra in 2018.
It is not known what arrangement exists between Carravan Company Ltd and Titan Developments Ltd, who are the applicants behind this development.