Massive petrol station proposed next to Turkish cemetery in Marsa

A massive petrol station and a car wash are being proposed instead of a disused factory, which abuts on the Turkish cemetery in Marsa, which is a scheduled Grade 1 monument.

Grade 1 monuments are protected by law for their outstanding architectural or historical interest and any changes which alter or impair their setting is not allowed. But no buffer zone was ever created around this historical building.

The petrol station is being proposed by Cassar Fuel Service Station and will be constructed on 3,300 square metres of land where part of the disused Multigas factory already abuts on the cemetery.

The Ottoman cemetery was commissioned in 1873 by Sultan Abdűlaziz I (1830-1876), the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, who commissioned Maltese architect Emmanuele Luigi Galizia to design the cemetery.

Writing in MaltaToday in 2014, architect Konrad Thake called for the conservation of the cemetery, noting the rapid deterioration of the delicately carved ornamental stonework.

The Environment and Resources Authority has already asked the developers to prepare a Project Development Statement (PDS) in order to asses whether the project needs an Environmental Impact Assessment or not.