Prime Minister Robert Abela announced on Sunday that a public consultation will be launched for ideas on how best to turn the White Rocks area into a national park.
The consultation, Abela said, will be with children, NGOs, local councils and the greater general public in order to ensure that the area can become “the most beautiful park that we have.”
Abela was speaking in a Labour Party discussion on Budget 2026, aired on party media on Sunday morning.
He said that on White Rocks, there will be a motion in Cabinet to end the currently open tender process for development in the area.
“It was going to be developed not just on the committed footprint, but far beyond that – with virgin land being taken up,” Abela said, noting that people often forget this about the proposals for the area.
He said that a lot of agricultural land and what was committed for development will be given back to the people, and noted that he was pleased to have received feedback from NGOs even about buildings which have historic value and should therefore be preserved.
This counts for Manoel Island too, he said, where there are buildings of significant historical value which should be rehabilitated and incorporated into what is to come.
On Manoel Island, Abela said that there is an intense process of dialogue ongoing in order to establish what investment the MIDI Consortium had done so far and what is had received from it – as the concession also includes Tigne Point – but guaranteed that “the park will happen.”
“We have a clear commitment from MIDI that the development they proposed – which for me is far too big for the area – will not happen,” Abela said.
He also said that an international company of architects, Chapman Taylor, had been engaged to draft a masterplan for the Grand Harbour area, including its limits such as Marsa. This process is at an advanced stage and will focus on the regeneration of the Grand Harbour.
The government will then go to the people and businesses in the area to see what they visualise for this area.
Speaking on the Budget, Abela said that the Labour Party had promised to give €66 million in tax cuts in its general election manifesto, but to date had given over €300 million – around €140 million last year and around another €160 million this year – through tax cuts which he said will remain in place as long as “the people keep trusting us.”
The challenge Malta faces now, Abela said, is in what manner the country is to continue growing the economy.
“Where in the past we accommodated every investment, now we are in a position where we can choose to focus on quality instead,” Abela said.
He continued that this is why the Budget gives incentives to employers who want to upskill their workforce and puts funding towards digitisation and areas like artificial intelligence especially.
Abela also said that a major multi-million-euro investment focusing on intermediate care for the elderly in tandem with the private sector at St Vincent de Paule is close to being announced.
He described it as “another revolution in how we will be caring for our elderly.”
The discussion panel at the event was made up of economist Stephanie Fabri, doctor Jan Chircop, architect and MCESD chairman David Xuereb, and gay rights activist and Head of the Human Rights Directorate Clayton Mercieca.