Marsaxlokk fields and farms eyed for tourist accommodation

An extensive tourist accommodation facility is being proposed instead of two disused livestock farms and adjacent agricultural land, in the Balluta area of Marsaxlokk’s Triq il-Power Station.

The Ballut area is designated as a Special Area of Conservation and an area of landscape value.

The development would be sited just 100m from the new hotel approved on the Hunters Tower restaurant, and 300m from the Tas-Silġ fort and Electrogas power station.

The development will be split into seven, separate one-storey blocks of around 130sq.m to 220sq.m, the largest of which will be the reception and breakfast area. Altogether, they will occupy a 1,270sq.m footprint with a large pool and deck.

The hotel would replace two existing sheep and goat farms, altogether set over a 1,200sq.m footprint on the western part of the site. The area in total is over 3,800sq.m, with the seven blocks intersperesed across the whole area.

Developers Alfred, Jeffrey and Michael Fenech  of AMJ Invest have declared full ownership of the land in question.

In 2017, the Planning Authority approved a ‘development brief’ which identified an area around the Hunters Tower restaurant for tourism development. This led to the approval of a 125-room hotel instead of the restaurant and its surrounding garden. The brief does not envisage any development on the site of the proposed development.

This means that any development on this site will have to be in line with the rural policy which allows the redevelopment of disused livestock farms having ceased operation for at least 10 years, but limits any replacement to a single dwelling not exceeding 200sq.m.