NGOs denounce Planning Authority for withholding information on DB project

NGOs opposing the DB Group’s City Centre project have slammed the Planning Authority for keeping important studies relating to the project concealed from the public.

The public has only one week left to submit their objections to the project, which was slightly downscaled from the initial proposal of 38 floors to 31 floors following public outrage on a previous permit, subsequently revoked by the law courts. Over 2,000 objections were presented, including one by the Labour-led Pembroke local council.    

The existence of the studies which up until Saturday were not yet available on the PA’s website, emerged from submissions by the Environment and Resources Authority, which directly refers to four documents which are still not available to the public.

These crucial studies include photomontages, notes on the traffic impact statement, shadowing studies and the social impact assessment statement.

Photomontages which practically show the project having a similar visual impact on long-distance views as that foreseen in the original plans, were provided to MaltaToday by the developer a few weeks ago, but have so far not been published on the PA’s website. “This seriously impedes the right of the public to view all available information at an early stage so as to be able to scrutinise all fully. It is another shameful indictment of the Planning Authority’s lack of transparency.”

The NGOs are calling on the PA to make these documents public at once and extend the time-frame for people to make representations.

“This application has been dogged with ‘mistakes’ which are always done at the public’s expense,” the NGOs said.

Another photo montage provided by the developer to MaltaToday

The Planning Authority has denied that it was concealing any studies related to the latest planning application proposal for the City Centre project.

“At this early stage of the application, now that the proposal has been recently revised by the applicant, and re-published according to law, the Authority is obliged to publish all submitted plans and drawings relevant to the revised project. These plans and drawings have all been made available.

“Once this 30-day period of consultation is closed, the Planning Directorate will, if the need arises, request the applicant to provide an update to the original social impact study and the Transport Impact Statement to reflect this latest proposal which in essence has been scaled down from the original proposal. These studies and any other document relevant to the assessment of the application will be made available when the case officer formally concludes the DPA report of the application.”

The PA said that with respect to the Shadows Studies and the Visual Impact Study of the project, the ERA will ask the EIA coordinator to update these studies following their assessment of the latest submitted plans, if the need arises. As part of the EIA process these studies will eventually be published once concluded and referred to the Planning Authority for consideration in its final decision. 

“As with all other planning applications, the PA will continue to honour its commitment and obligation to ensure that all development applications are processed in the most transparent of ways and open to scrutiny by the public,” the PA said.

The permit for the DB project was issued in 2018 in a meeting marred by controversy after it emerged that a board member had been brought to Malta by a private jet to participate in the vote. The permit was subsequently revoked by the law court after it emerged that a board member had a conflict of interest.  Recently the Auditor General issued a report which found serious shortcomings in the way the ITS land was transferred to the DB group.