Midi (Midi “committed to the sustainable development of Manoel Island” – TMIS, 29 May) is up to its usual games, blaming its Manoel Island delays on abuse and bad faith by Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), when the truth is that the EPRT and the Court of Appeal concluded that an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) consultant commissioned and paid by Midi signed a false and abusive declaration of independence.
This so-called “independent” consultant is the son of a Midi director working on various projects on Manoel Island, therefore far from impartial as the EIA is meant to be. Midi knew of the consultant’s links to their project; it knew that the consultants had to sign declarations of independence yet it engaged him. This false declaration led to the total demolition of an historic “Bovile” forming an integral part of Manoel Island’s historic memory as a place of quarantine for man, beast and materials.
If Midi is complaining that it is still without a permit, it has only itself to blame, since Midi let its 1999 outline development permit expire without renewing it. It took Midi until 2017 to apply for a new outline development permit which was granted in March 2019. This permit was annulled in June 2020 through its own abuse.
For the past four years Midi has been struggling to counter FAA’s reasoned appeals. As a last resort Midi has been trying to discredit FAA with its army of paid consultants gaslighting the appellants and pouring its huge resources into a public relations campaign that impresses nobody.
Midi has the gall to talk about a “pedestrian priority project” when it was Midi that closed down public access to Manoel Island, and only reinstated access following public pressure in 2016. Similarly Midi had committed to opening access round the Tigne foreshore in 2016, yet six years later it still uses the excuse of ongoing works to prevent pedestrians walking round the headland.
Midi boasts about the amount of space given over as public open space as if it were some magnanimous concession, failing to mention that much of that area is protected public open space in any case, due to the Scheduled Grade 1 Fort Manoel Glacis. As for the rest of the open space, we all know how the open spaces at Portomaso and Tigne Point were built up, so Midi’s track record has zero crediblity.
Far from vexatious, FAA has put forward practical suggestions and plans to reduce the negative aspects of the proposals which will have a huge negative impact on the Gzira promenade and social fabric of the town. FAA proposed the shifting of the new bridge further to the south and the removal of the horrendous 42-metre-wide roundabout that will destroy the seafront to create a road junction that is not necessary at that location.
FAA cannot accept the blocking of the views of Valletta from the Gzira promenade. Valletta and its bastions are a Unesco World Heritage Site and its landscape is to be protected if it is to retain its status. The whole of the coast of Marsamxett Harbour is defined by law as an Area of High Landscape Value, meaning that nothing can be built to impact the landscape.
Manoel Island was public land and had no business to be given over for speculation. FAA maintains it should be returned to the public as a heritage park, a much-needed open recreational space for the overcrowded North Harbour area. The unbroken conurbation running from Msida to Pembroke has become an overcrowded, overbuilt area which has seriously undermined residents’ health and quality of life. Parks are practically non-existent and the few green areas that do exist are threatened by gradual piecemeal development, like Gzira Garden, threatened by the proposed petrol station and Capitanerie.
The matter will be in the hands of the government which will have the right to take back Manoel Island from 31 March 2026. FAA hopes that the present government will take the opportunity to remedy the mistake made by the government in power in 2000 and to return Manoel Island and its immense heritage to the public, as a much-needed Heritage Park.
Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar