Former magistrate eyes Mellieha hotel inside ODZ

Retired magistrate Carol Peralta has resurrected a proposal he first made a decade ago to construct a three-star aparthotel over 5,500 square metres of fallow agricultural land in Mellieha.

The hotel is being proposed outside development zones, opposite the Luna Hotel along Triq Marfa next to the Omm il-Hniena cemetery. Peralta declared full ownership of the land in question.

The proposed development would include 118 guest rooms over six floors, four retail shops, a restaurant, two bars and lounges, a gym and two pools. It would also include 38 parking spaces in basement levels.

The three-star aparthotel is being proposed over 5,500 square metres of fallow agricultural land in Mellieha

If granted a permit the hotel would be the first ODZ hotel development to be approved in the area since 2010, when the Planning Authority issued a permit for the DB group’s 340-room extension of the Seabank hotel in Ghadira bay.

Peralta may not be the only the only one to have an interest in the project.  Plans for the hotel project submitted to the PA by architect and former Labour MP Charles Buhagiar on 12 March indicate Joseph Gaffarena as his  ‘client’, but plans submitted on 23 April indicate Peralta as the ‘client’.

But the proposal is bound to create controversy due to its take-up of ODZ land.

In his career, Peralta survived two impeachment motions as well as reports that he belonged to a masonic lodge. Peralta served for 13 years on the UN Interim Mission in Kosovo with jurisdiction over war crimes and organised crime, before stepping down from the bench in 2015.