Updated | DB boss says City Centre price benchmark should be applied to White Rocks

The DB group has defended the €60 million valuation of the land transfer for its City Centre high-rise at St George's Bay, suggesting that the valuation of similar deals around the area should follow the same benchmark established by Deloitte.

In a reference to such projects as the White Rocks, where proposals for luxury development in the Pembroke area have still not been approved, the DB group CEO Arthur Gauci said he wanted the Deloitte formula used for his company to be applied to "present and, crucially, the future... Comparisons with the Corinthia Group’s proposal for the site literally adjacent to ours and that for White Rocks should be particularly enlightening. Transparency, justice and the rule of law require no less."

Gauci has insisted the price the company paid for the land was the highest price ever paid per square metre for a comparable project in the last 20 years, in a reaction to claims that DB had been given the land by the Maltese government at a price below market levels.

"For the first time in Maltese history, the market value of public land has been set by an auditing firm of global reputation, namely Deloitte... The formula established by Deloitte confirmed that DB group would buy the land for a total of €60 million."

The Planning Authority last month green-lit the proposed 38-storey tower and 17-storey hotel at the former site of the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) in St George’s Bay. While EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has confirmed that a land transfer such as the one granted by Projects Malta could be in conformity with EU rules, she suggested that unlawful state aid could happen in cases where the public authority sold the land to the buyer at below market price.

Gauci today said that critics should understand that his group, owned by hotelier Silvio Debono, was obliged under the land transfer contract, to create 1,500 jobs under pain of penalty.

"In total, the City Centre project will generate around €490 million of direct revenue to government over a 10-year period," Gauci said, adding that the company was investing €300 million in the project, "making it the largest private investment by an individual in Maltese history and will also include an underground car park for 1,700 vehicles."