China to pay €7.8 million for acquisition of Pembroke land

Local plan for the siting of the mega-embassy amended by MEPA in 2012

2012 changes in Local Plan to accommodate Chinese Embassy in Suffolk Street
2012 changes in Local Plan to accommodate Chinese Embassy in Suffolk Street

The Chinese government is set to pay €7,880,000 to acquire an 11,115 square-metre site in Suffolk Street, Pembroke, for the construction of a new embassy.

A copy of the draft deed was presented before a parliamentary committee approving various resolutions for the transfer of government properties.

The resolution pertaining to the Chinese transfer was however put on hold as the Nationalist Opposition sought reassurances that the proposed development would not negatively impact the residents.

“In principle we don’t disagree on collaborations with China for the setting up of an embassy, which forms an integral part of diplomatic relations. Our question is however on what impact it may have on the residential zone and whether there will be any height limitations. We would however prefer if the resolution is approved once we have studied the plans and any impacts on the zone have been analysed,” Nationalist MP Tonio Fenech said.

Parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon explained that contract was modeled on the contract signed by the previous administration for the sale of land in Ta’ Qali for the construction of the US embassy.

“The deed is to effectively sell the land in question so we do not have any plans. But once at planning phase, they would have to follow the same processes and normal regulations as per any other development,” the junior minister said.

Fenech went on to ask the committee to postpone the approval of the resolution to the next sitting, allowing the Nationalist parliamentary group to discuss the matter.

The property is being sold on the condition that “it is to be used solely and exclusively” for the building of an embassy.

A local plan to accommodate the construction of a massive Chinese embassy in Pembroke was approved under the previous government.

The process to locate the Chinese embassy in Pembroke had started in January 2012 when amendments for the local plan were issued for public consultation and finalised on 15 November 2012 when the amendment was approved by the MEPA board.

The amendment deemed the site as being suitable for the development of an embassy, as it is located within extensive landscaped open areas and directly adjacent to a planned road that is to link Regional Road with Pembroke.

In the local plan approved by the government in 2006, the area now earmarked for an embassy had been previously allocated for the development of three-storey high maisonettes and flats on the condition that mature trees found in the area are safeguarded.

According to these plans the embassy will be constructed within development zones, as the area was already scheduled for development since the 1990s, even though it has remained undeveloped for the past two decades.

The local plan stipulated that a maximum of 304 new housing units could be built in this zone, as well as in another area of the same size in Pembroke, which was also allocated for housing, in the local plan.

In February 2007, MaltaToday reported that China had asked the government for a plot of land of up to 10,000 square metres in Pembroke - a prime site that has been earmarked for development by foreign powers since World War II.

The land earmarked in the local plan changes - roughly the size of the existing Pembroke cemetery - was significantly smaller than that envisaged in 2007, but still considerably larger than the present Chinese Embassy in St Julian's.