Updated | Delimara hotel approved with 10 votes against three

Updated at 2.31pm with details

A hotel at Kalanka Bay in Delimara got the planning board’s approval with 10 votes in favour and three against.

Nationalist Party MP Marthese Portelli, Environment and Resources Authority chairman Victor Axiak and the representative of NGOs, Annick Bonello objected to the development.

Marsaxlokk local council representative Daniel Zerafa was one of those who voted in favour of the project.

The project received the full backing of the Malta Developers Association with president Sandro Chetcuti, who was present at the meeting, insisting the development was on the site of a derelict hotel.

A photomontage of the proposed hotel

“This is not virgin land. The derelict hotel is an eye sore... the beach will remain public. The MDA supports projects which turn ugly buildings into functional ones,” Chetcuti said.

However, Axiak insisted that “the area should be rehabilitated not spoiled as you are doing”. Axiak said the project was increasing the built footprint of the existing hotel.

“This is not the way to improve dilapidated buildings,” Axiak said.

It also emerged that the proposed swimming pool will be three metres from cliff edge, with Axiak asking the developers to remove the pool due to possible geological impacts.

Planning Authority chief executive Johann Buttigieg made a remarkable declaration that “the hotel will not visually dominate the beach”.

His observation was countered by Portelli, who raised a number of concerns on the negative visual impact of the proposed hotel and the increase in demand for parking by the restaurant’s patrons.

Government representative Clayton Bartolo said the developer had a great responsibility to ensure the sustainability of the project but ultimately described it as “a good investment”.

Bonello argued that the best solution for eye sores was not to use them as excuses for new development but to restore the areas to their natural state. 

Project architect Aaron Abela confirmed that the project’s viability depended on increasing the footprint of the existing hotel.

ERA had strongly objected to the development calling for the downscaling of the project to the height and area of the existing building. But the application was still recommended for approval by the planning directorate.

Ryan Abela a Marsaxlokk resident insisted that the proposed hotel is much bigger than the existing one and would increase the influx of people visiting the beach.

But Fgura resident Ramon Sant praised the project for improving the environment, lamenting about syringes left in the area.

Graffitti activist Andre Schembri replied that “we do not need a benefactor to ensure that there are no syringes in the area... this is the government’s responsibility”.

Another resident lamented that since the closure of the hotel the place had become a dump and opening a hotel will improve the area.

Greenwash

The developers did their best to greenwash the project through a long presentation highlighting the project’s environmentally friendly aspects.

Architect Abela, the developer’s brother, insisted that his aim was striking a balance between environmental protection and re-utilisation of a derelict former hotel.

The hotel was bought by his brother Kenneth Abela three years ago.

Abela denounced the illegalities in the area confirmed by enforcement orders particularly against trappers. He said 88 trees will be planted around the hotel.

“Since we acquired the 23,000 square metres of land next to the hotel we have removed illegalities,” he insisted.

Engineer Louis Borg revealed that the project would be off the energy grid, producing electricity from solar energy and combined heat power.

Police called in to evict activist

The meeting had been stalled for about 30 minutes after a standoff between activists and the board after chairman Vince Cassar asked one of the objectors to leave for showing lack of respect to the board.

The chairman ordered the expulsion of activist Robert Louis Fenech from the meeting in a heated exchange for showing lack of respect to the board and  failing to address Victor Axiak as professor when asking him a question.

Fenech told the chairman not to butt in, while Axiak insisted he had no problem being called

‘Victor’. But the situation continued to degenerate with the chairman insisting that the meeting was suspended till the activist left the room.

The meeting was stalled as activists continued speaking, ignoring Cassar. The board’s NGO representative also called on the activists to show prudence but Fenech continued to speak.

Cassar then called in the police and asked them to evict Fenech from the meeting.

The project

The new hotel is being proposed on the site of the ruins of a hotel which closed down in the 1980s. The footprint of the derelict hotel will increase by 561 square metres, whilst an additional 480 square metres, will be occupied by terraces and a swimming pool.

This will result in a total footprint of 1,050 square metres, which according to the case officer is equivalent to “the existing disturbed footprint” around the old hotel.

The case officer report revealed that the developers abandoned plans for the construction of a tunnel linking the beach to the hotel after an Environmental Impact Assessment warned this could undermine the stability of the cliff.

The EIA had also warned that the development will result in a significant change in the rural and natural landscape with the introduction of a “larger and taller hotel building with a modern form”.

But according to the case officer the proposed additional floor and horizontal extensions of the derelict hotel would only have moderate impact when viewed from the opposite side of the bay.

“Through the submission of a visual impact assessment, it is being projected that the development will have limited impact on the surroundings, and will only be highly visible from views within the bay itself.”

The case officer also refers to the need to regenerate and upgrade the area noting that the disused Delimara Bay Hotel is in a derelict state, “with the existing structures being subject to vandals and graffiti artists, as well as being in a bad state of disrepair, with existing ceilings being propped up to avoid collapse”.