The government's stand on the future of Manoel Island is "less than convincing" for former Labour leader Alfred Sant.

In his blog on The Malta Independent today, Sant writes that he finds "less than convincing the government's argument for why it should not arrange that Manoel island gets converted into a green space, instead of letting it be developed according to the wishes of the private entrepreneurs who've made a hash of Tigne."

Activists have been running a campaign for weeks to push for Manoel Island to be converted into a national heritage park.

The petition text says that "the heavily urbanised and densely populated area, home to around 150,000 residents and countless workers, has become the most densely populated area in Malta, making Manoel Island's role as a much-needed "green lung" all the more essential."

Sant writes that "there exist a number of points where the origiinal Tigne agreement as passed by Parliament was contravened and the government looked away."

For his part, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that it would cost the government hundreds of millions of euros to take back Manoel Island. The price to terminate it and compensate the developers is not worth it for Malta, he said, adding that there are other, more functional areas that can be turned into green spaces.

The activists responded that they would like to see a renegotiation of the agreement with MIDI, which is responsible for the project

MIDI has consistently rejected the position taken by the activists, saying that the revised MIDI master plan for Manoel Island places heritage at its core, bringing centuries of Malta's history to life through the restoration and conservation of the island's iconic buildings, including Fort Manoel which has already been restored to its former glory.

Furthermore, the revised master plan, MIDI said, contemplates a significant reduction in the volume of development with public open spaces occupying 60% of MIDI's concession, including the 80,000sqm public glacis park encircling Fort Manoel and extending to the sea on both the north and east sides of the island.