Zammit Lewis: Bonds on Manoel Island, Tignè concession should have never been issued

Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis has claimed that the government should not have allowed bonds to be issued on Manoel Island, saying public land belongs to the Maltese people and not the private sector.

“It is good that these concessions are made to the private sector with specific objectives and that they are completed in terms that are agreed upon and clear from the outset,” Zammit Lewis said in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon.

The island was part of a concession that also included Tigné Point, granted to MIDI plc in 2000. The company plans to build luxury apartments on one part of the island and has a pending planning application. A master plan drafted by the company envisages that as much as 60% of Manoel Island will remain open to the public, with a large park on the glacis of the historic fort.

The Labour MP highlighted that it is “not acceptable that those who take these concessions go to the media and talk about public land as if it were theirs, and even negotiate it with others and even issue, in some cases, a ‘bond issue’ on it!”

Zammit Lewis said that if the private sector fails to follow the terms of a concession, the land should return to the State. “Public land belongs to the Maltese and not to the private sector,” he said. “If the private sector fails, the land goes back to the state according to the terms of the agreement.”

He urged the government to put stronger structures in place to ensure that those who receive public concessions follow the agreed terms. He said that if these terms aren’t followed, the land should be taken back.

Zammit Lewis also pointed out what the Opposition Leader Bernard Grech had said, calling it “laughable or even tearful” and saying that, as Leader of the Opposition, his constitutional role is “to be the driving force of the government.”