Portomaso’s land reclamation idea passed on to Paceville consultants to incorporate into master plan

Submissions made to government by the Tumas business group for further development at Portomaso were passed on to the global planning consultants Mott Macdonald, whose vision for Paceville was carried out after “analysing this information and incorporated a land reclamation option in the master plan”, a spokesperson for the Planning Authority confirmed.

The Paceville master plan, unveiled last week by the PA, does not exclude another tower at Portomaso but expressed a preference for coastal development – including land reclamation – where development may still rise to a maximum of 15 floors.

This would cover a footprint of 38,700 square metres, with photomontages in the Paceville master plan showing the new tower on reclaimed land, that would obscure the classic view of the Dragonaro Casino from Sliema.

No clear answer came from the PA when asked whether the option for land reclamation was proposed by the authority or Mott Macdonald.

But the reply confirms that the government passed on information submitted by the developers Tumas, to the consultants before they prepared the master plan.

Indeed the PA has published submissions from the general public, including those from NGOs, other developers and landowners. But submissions from the Tumas Group and the owners of the eight other sites set for high-rise development, have not been published.

A spokesperson for the PA has insisted that any land reclamation on the coast will still have to be assessed by a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) process, a requirement by EU law for any large-scale plan with such an impact on the environment.

The SEA will be conducted on the environmental impact of the whole plan and is not binding: a final decision whether to approve the Paceville master plan, whose guidelines actually take legal precedence over any local plan policies, will be taken by the government.

The PA spokesperson also said the same procedure was used with respect to the eight sites. “The Authority and government are aware that there is a potential for further investment on these sites. As such the Authority gave all the related information to the consultants. This information was analysed and the consultants came up with projections of what can be accommodated within the respective sites. These related proposals in the master plan will also be assessed during the SEA process.”

The PA also announced that a social impact assessment will be conducted on the Paceville master plan.