Portelli seeks excavation permit for massive Msida development as building plans remain under wraps

Excel Investments,co-owned by developer Joseph Portelli and Dirjanu supermarket owner Mark Agius, is proposing the excavation of an enormous 4,000sq.m site in Msida.

The area is currently occupied by warehouses and is situated between Trejqa ta’ Boxbox and Triq it-Torri, uphill from Valley Road.

The excavations will abut on a row of listed buildings which were granted Grade 2 scheduling in 2017.

While a planning application envisaging the excavation of two basement levels has been published, another application proposing a replacement building has been under wraps for the past three months.

According to the PA’s public information system, the application (PA 3117/23) has not yet been fully submitted and the plans will only be made available when the application is considered complete.

Excel Investment has also presented a zoning application to change the building alignment by introducing a new pedestrian passage splitting the site in two, and thus enabling the developers to build deeper in the site.

This planning stratagem is frequently used to circumvent PA rules banning internal development within sites lacking internal access roads.

The zoning application presented in March is still being considered by the Planning Authority.

Following a site inspection Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has not objected to plans to demolish the warehouses which are deemed to have no cultural heritage value but has alerted the developer on the presence of a World War II air raid shelters which cannot be destroyed.

Moreover, the SCH noted that the site earmarked for development abuts a  row of scheduled townhouses of considerable cultural heritage value.

In view of this the Superintendence has called for a 3m buffer between the excavated area and the the scheduled buildings on Triq it-Torri. It has also asked the developer to identify the precise location of the air raid shelters so these can be preserved and to present a works method statement detailing the measures taken to ensure that no harm is done to the row of listed townhouses.

The SCH said it will call for further mitigation measures to ensure that the scheduled buildings are not negatively impacted by the proposed development, once plans for the proposed development are presented.

The public consultation on the application to redevelop the site will only commence when the application is published in full.