Marsamxett Hotel Development
Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar notes that MEPA has sent back a recent outline development application for the conversion of a property into a hotel on the Marsamxett waterfront by the Valletta Local Council due to incomplete and incorrect information. Moreover the site notice was affixed on the bastion wall across the road, a good twenty metres away from the property, and was only discovered shortly before the deadline for objections expired soon after Christmas.
The application also states that it would include the restoration of the house of Mattia Preti. FAA notes that according to Victor Denaro’s book on Valletta houses, Mattia Preti’s house was at No 10 St Patrick’s street Valletta and not on the Marsamxett waterfront. The artist’s house was demolished in the fifties to make way for the reconstruction of the Manderaggio area.
The property under application had been earmarked to become a home for the elderly which is sadly lacking in Valletta. It would appear to be more within the remit of a Local Council to make use of existing properties for such a purpose rather than teaming up with private investors to go into business. Still FAA appreciates that the property in question has been abandoned and derelict for a number of years and a hotel could be an asset to Valletta. However one hopes that MEPA will ensure that the property remains a hotel and does not eventually mutate into private apartments for the benefit of the developer as was the case with other hotels including the Gozo Mgarr Hotel.
Moreover MEPA must also ensure that the residents in neighbouring properties are not overshadowed or disturbed by the addition of floors, or discotheques at roof level. Equally important is the visual impact and architectural style of any development in Valletta and especially on the Marsamxett waterfront, visible from miles away.
Of equal concern is the fact that if MEPA grants this application the right to annexe the waterpolo pitch as the hotel’s beach concession, then Valletta will lose its waterpolo pitch forever. Up to a few years ago Valletta had a vibrant and active waterpolo team. That the waterpolo pitch has been allowed to deteriorate to its present state is a sad reflection on local administration. With so few sports facilities available for Valletta’s youth, it should have been a priority to ensure that adequate management was found for the waterpolo pitch.
A vibrant waterpolo pitch would offer the opportunity to organise swimming lessons for the young and not so young as well as other special events. Moreover the general public and especially the residents who swim there with their families in summer will lose another sizeable chunk of foreshore which by right belongs to the general public. This was designated by Roman Law which to this day establishes the depth of public ownership of foreshore: “as far as the sea waves can reach”. These concessions to hotels have been eating into public space on the foreshore all over Malta and Gozo, however few densely-inhabited coastal zones have as few beach facilities as Valletta.