NGOs call on Planning Authority to refuse Delimara hotel permit

BirdLife Malta, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar, and Nature Trust are calling on the planning board to refuse the permit 

The proposed hotel at Delimara
The proposed hotel at Delimara

BirdLife Malta, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar, and Nature Trust are calling on the planning board to refuse a permit for a five-storey guest house in Wied Għomor on a site originally occupied by a 60m2 store.

The Planning Authority will tomorrow make a final decision on the area known as Ta'Kalanka in Delimara, where the redevelopment of an existing derelict hotel is being proposed in an ODZ and closely located to several protected sites. 

READ ALSO: Delimara hotel set for approval

The three eNGOs said that the redevelopment proposal was unacceptable on several counts, and that the final development drafts were still of natural environment concern due to several issues which have not been seriously addressed.

“The introduction of a hotel which is being marketed as a form of eco-lodging in this untouched gem will permanently alter its natural state and sadly pave the way for new development in what should be an ODZ,” The eNGOs said in a statement.

“If approved, the application will feed the ongoing continued depletion of our limited green areas, once again for short-term economic gain to the detriment of the residents of Malta.”

Front Harsien ODZ also called on the Planning Authority to refuse the permit.

The NGO said that it was "concerned by the piecemeal approach to approving development in this area," and that "the PA is now being advised to approve an even more massive guest house by the same directorate."  

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.

The case officer report revealed that the developers have 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.