AD officials submit objection to Ghadira Valley development proposal

Alternattiva Demokratika Mellieha local council candidate Luke Caruana and party chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, have submitted an objection to the proposed construction of a three-star apartment hotel in an outside development zone in the locality.

The proposed construction of a six-floor hotel in Ghadira, was submitted by former magistrate Carol Peralta. 

Peralta’s proposal, which was first submitted in 2009, would include 118 guest rooms over six floors, four retail shops, a restaurant, two bars and lounges, a gym and two pools. The development would also include 38 parking spaces in basement levels. 

If granted, the hotel would be built over 5,500 square metres of ODZ land, and would be the first ODZ hotel development approved in the area since 2010.  

A statement by AD said that the objection was filed on the basis that the proposed hotel falls within the valley as well as being outside the development zone. 

Mellieha candidate Luke Caruana called for the protection of valleys under any circumstance. 

“Our valleys should be protected and the area outside the development zone should not be considered for development under any circumstance. Development areas are already too large and there is no reason to extend them for commercial interests to the detriment of the environment,” Caruana said.

The approval would also create further complications according to the AD candidate, due to the project’s close vicinity to the Omm il-Ħniena Cemetery.

“If approved, it [the proposed development] will impede possible extensions to the cemetery which by its very nature can only exist in an ODZ,” Caruana said. 

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