Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli, through one of his companies, has filed a second expansion application on a major project in Gozo which the Planning Authority only gave its blessing to last March.

Using a strategy he has used in other projects, Portelli – through the company Excel Investments Ltd, which is run by Portelli’s business partner Mark ‘Ta Dirjanu’ Agius – had already filed an application to amend a permit granted for the development of a complex of flats in an area known as Hal-Gelmus in Rabat, Gozo.

The original development was to convert the former Magro tomato products factory, on Triq il-Wied and Triq Pawlu Portelli in Rabat, Gozo, into a 103-unit apartment complex with 70 garages. 

It was approved last March – just three days before the 2022 general election.

However just a month later, an application was filed to add a further 13 flats and 33 new garages to the project, while transforming two of the residential units and a garage into shops.

This was after the original development was held up because of concerns that the introduction of commercial outlets could have a particularly negative impact from a traffic perspective.  Portelli had subsequently removed the commercial outlets from the original plans – only for them to reappear in the new application a month later.

That is not where the story stops, however: in July a second application to propose wholesale changes to another part of the site was filed at the Planning Authority.

This application seeks to, firstly, redesign the approved basement garages and parking spaces, including by adding another 50 garages.  The application also seeks permission to redesign the approved residential units and add another 35 of them to the project, and also seeks to change three residential units into commercial outlets and offices.

The proposal also includes a ground floor garage, the construction of a gym, and the construction of pools at roof level.

The architect behind the project is Maria Schembri Grima. Besides being one of Portelli’s go-to architects, she is also the chairperson of the Building & Construction Authority (BCA) – a government authority which was established in 2021 with the supposed intention of “establishing a better management of the building and construction sectors.”

Consultations on the application thus far are at an early stage, and in fact both this application and the application filed in April are still awaiting recommendations from the Planning Authority’s case officer.

An access audit into the second application however found that the proposal had several shortcomings when it comes to accessibility, with the audit noting that less than 20% of the units are accessible to all, and that the proposed offices are not accessible either.

There are also no accessible sanitary facilities indicated for the proposed commercial development, the audit reads.

Portelli, who rarely puts his own name on planning applications but rather prefers to use one of a number of companies which he has a stake in – such as Excel Investments Ltd – to apply for permits, has become one of the country’s most controversial developers.

He is frequently behind large-scale projects in tourist areas such as St. Julian’s but also in Gozo, where his projects have raised particular ire owing to their size in comparison with the area around them.

His companies have in the past used various loopholes in order to avoid additional scrutiny by the Planning Authority. Besides applying for amendments to a project soon after the permit is granted such as in this case, another such trick is splitting one major project into separate applications in order to avoid the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The Planning Authority has failed to close such loopholes, despite the fact that there have been a number of well-documented cases of it being used to get projects through the planning process without being examined in a more holistic manner.