Massive shopping mall and supermarket approved in Burmarrad

The Planning Authority has approved a massive four-storey shopping mall on a 5,123sq.m footprint, on the site of the car repair and rental depot owned by Burmarrad Commercials.

The building is set to include a supermarket, retail outlets, catering establishments, office space, and four levels of basement parking accommodating 572 cars. 

The application approved by eight against two, with the only dissenting voices being St Paul’s Bay mayor Censu Galea and NGO representative Romano Cassar.

Censu Galea said that he voted against the proposal because the development is located outside development zones. But he also acknowledged that the project conforms to a planning policy approved in 2020 which turns this area in to a commercial one.

In fact, these changes re-zoned a 20,000sq.m stretch of ODZ land along Burmarrad Road into a commercial area with a height limitation of 17.5m. Previously development in the area was limited to storage, vehicle repairs, and showrooms with a maximum height of one storey.

Galea expressed concern on the impact on traffic flows particularly on vehicles turning towards Mosta.  

The developer’s architect said this problem will be addressed through the proposed junction upgrade.

Galea also questioned why no planning gain consisting a sum of money which can be used for projects in the locality was imposed. The developer replied citing a number of other obligations imposed on the project including a 3% contribution to the cost of upgrading the traffic junctions. 

Romano Cassar justified his vote insisting that the development did not respect the surrounding context.

“Development should respect the rural context and what we are doing is imposing a massive building which does not respect the context,” he said.

He argued that it would have been more appropriate to limit the new development to three floors.

The development is expected to generate an estimated 1,818 additional car trips. Transport studies related to the application indicate that this increase in traffic will require an upgrade of the Erba’ Mwieżeb roundabout, particularly to address congestion on the Kennedy Drive arm. 

Plans for the junction upgrade will be carried out by Infrastructure Malta, while the developer will be expected to contribute 3% of the costs, a sum which, according to Transport Malta, reflects the share of network traffic generated by the new development.