An application for a massive 135-unit development has been filed with the Planning Authority on untouched land in Zonqor, Marsascala.

The application is “to excavate and construct 180 garages at basement level, 2 Class 4B shops, and 135 overlying units” and is on a vacant site on Triq l-Ghaguza and Triq l-Ghawwiema in Marsascala.

The site, according to the public application form filed with the application, is 5,000 square metres in area.

The application has been filed by developers GAP Projects Limited, with Colin Zammit being the project’s architect.

Plans show that the plans propose three levels of underground parking, and another five levels of accommodation units above ground.

Even though the land in question is vacant, characterised by soil and traditional rubble wall separations, it is within the development zone.  It is close to the coastline and also a few hundred metres away from an ODZ site which was initially slated to hold the American University of Malta’s Zonqor Campus.

The public application form also states that the development will not see any trees removed from the site: However both satellite imagery and the plans filed as part of the development itself show the presence of at least one carob tree.

Owing to legislative changes in 2018, carob trees lost their listing as a protected species if they are situation in development zones, as this site is.  Those legislative changes saw that list of protected trees slashed by half, and saw the introduction of a number of scenarios – such as the above – where a tree would not be protected.

While this is not included in the plans as it would not be the developer who would build this, there is the possibility that a new residential road will be built to cater for the development, which would ultimately connect Triq l-Ghaguza with Triq il-Bajja and then encircle the development.

The entry points for the development’s garage complex are in fact situated in an area of this development which would require the building of the said new road, rather than on the already existing Triq l-Ghaguza.

The constriction of the road would increase the footprint affected by the development, and would also result in the destruction of more Carob trees, according to the plans.

The case is currently at the initial vetting/plotting stage, with the period for objections and representations to be filed open from 1 June to 1 July.

A number of authorities and agencies are still to file an opinion on the project, with the Environment & Resources Authority thus far being the only ones to communicate with the architect, wherein they asked for details on the site floor area, the annual average daily traffic as a result of the project, and the estimated quantity of waste which will be generated at various phases of the project.

The applicant GAP Projects are a well-known development company who have fronted a number of other similarly scaled projects in recent months and years.  One such project recently is the demolition of what was a Franciscan retreat house in Madliena and rebuilding of it into a 20 metre high home for the elderly.

In that instance, residents filed an injunction against the approval of the permit, arguing that the permit should be revoked because incorrect information was filled in on the permit application, and because the developer had failed to affix any development notices on the site.

That meant, the residents argued, that they did not have the opportunity to file their own representations against the development.  The application was approved by the Planning Authority and demolition works reportedly began on the site earlier this month.

The project’s architect Colin Zammit meanwhile was, according to the testimony of former Projects Malta Deputy Chairperson William Wait in the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the recipient of a €700,000 direct order for a project at the former ITS site which was never carried out.

Zammit’s firm Maniera Group was paid to produce plans for a project similar to Smart City in Pembroke on the ITS campus.  The plans were ultimately shelved, but the payment was made regardless.