ERA chairman Victor Axiak defends his controversial vote in favour of the City Centre high-rise

The Environment and Resources Authority Chairman Victor Axiak has insisted he went inside the Planning Authority’s board meeting on the DB group’s 38-storey tower “with an open mind” and only voted in favour of because all the conditions imposed by the ERA were included in the permit.

Although expected by environmentalists to oppose the project, Axiak repeatedly praised the developers’ consultants for addressing ecological concerns - an attitude described as “pathetic” by Moviment Graffitti activist Andre Callus who decried the ERA’s endorsement of the project, which attracted 4,500 objections from residents and NGOs.

“I wish I was understood better… but if I am not understood, I will not be conditioned by criticism,” an unfazed Axiak told MaltaToday when asked for his reaction to criticism on social media. He insists that he was“never inhibited” by any criticism.

Back in 2016 Axiak was absent in board meetings where the PA approved high-rise in Townsquare in Sliema and in Mriehel, as he was recovering from surgery. But on that occasion in a memo sent to the board he indicated that he would have voted against both projects, including the Mriehel towers project which reached a maximum of 19 storeys and are located far from residential areas.

But Axiak denies any inconsistency. “I also voted in favour of 32-storey-high Mercury House tower which is also located in the Paceville area. I would have voted against the Mriehel tower because this is located in an area where no high-rise development presently exists and I was concerned that this will not blend in the area.”

ERA itself did not object to the DB project in a report issued in June. But its approval of the project was conditional on strict monitoring of works on the Harq Hammiem cave and the development of an underlying road network tunnel to avert congestion on existing junctions resulting from 7,000 new daily car trips, and to minimise the impact on air quality.

Asked whether he was satisfied by the brief letter of commitment issued by Transport Minister Ian Borg, which lacked any timeframes for the construction of the tunnel, Axiak replied that this was one of many issues which had been addressed.

Axiak was particularly satisfied by measures taken to safeguard the Harq il-Hammiem cave.

“I repeatedly asked the Planning Directorate whether all the conditions imposed by ERA had been included in the permit. If the answer was no I would have voted against. But since these were included I had no choice but to vote yes.”

Asked why he felt the need to praise the developers’ consultants during the meeting, Axiak replied that this reflected the reality of the project. One case in point was that the developers had changed plans for the location of a reverse osmosis outfall in the beach to ensure that water is discharged further away from the shore. “The assessment process was undertaken properly and was constantly double-checked by the ERA board which includes professionals.”

Axiak also claims that ecological concerns raised by NGOs like Graffitti in the meeting before the project’s approval had been duly followed up by ERA.

Still, while ERA focused on ecological impacts, residents were also concerned by the shading of the project on their homes and by the visual impact of the project.

Axiak said he “understands the emotions” of residents when asked about their objections, while contending that visual impact was an inevitable consequence of high-rise development and depended on the context of the location.

Axiak insisted that during the marathon session, objectors failed to raise any new issue which had not been addressed by the board. One issue brought up during the meeting by activist Claire Bonello was related to plans to develop a beach concession in breach of local plan policies, which preclude such development. Although ERA had previously objected to sun-decking facilities when these were proposed in other projects, Axiak insists that in this case the decking facilities will be of a “temporary and demountable nature”.