NGO Graffitti is insisting that Fort Manoel should not be used for large commercial parties.

In a statement on Saturday, the NGO said that in the past weeks "we have seen not one but two adverts for massive commercial parties set to take place in Fort Manoel". 

This Fort is part of the Government's project to transform Manoel Island into a national park, a project born from the public's demands brought forward by the campaign Manoel Island: Post Għalina. The campaign called for the abandonment of construction plans in favour of a public park, primarily for the wellbeing of the 180,000 residents of the Marsamxett area. Through a series of public workshops, the campaign exposed that the primary vision for Manoel Island was for it to serve as a refuge from its congested, commercialised and noisy surroundings. 

After all Robert Abela's trumpet-touting that the Government's vision aligns with that of the campaign, Project Green's public consultation exercises - that arrived at our same conclusion - and the handover of Fort Manoel to Heritage Malta, which should be the authority preserving and protecting our cultural and natural heritage, "we are disgusted", the NGO said. When government permits disruptive commercial mass events on Manoel Island it is yet again prostituting public land at the cost of the thousands of residents that live around it and the ecosystem that finds refuge there. 

Marsamxett Harbour is already flogged with excessive noise and commercial activities, including rowdy boat parties inside the harbour and establishments on the coast that do not respect legislations limiting noise and disturbance because the authorities are toothless against moguls. On Manoel Island they're already permitting the theft of public land to profit from a padel complex. 

"We ask Prime Minister Robert Abela, Culture and Heritage Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, and Environmental Minister Miriam Dalli:  Are you going to allow commercial entities to keep pigging out at our expense, or will you deliver your promise of a holistic plan that respects the public's vision to govern all activities and developments on Manoel Island?" 

The public knows what they've asked for. Don't try to take us for a ride, Graffitti said.