Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1063613
MATTHEW VELLA & YANNICK PACE MALTESE MPs are to be asked to waive the condition for the Corinthia hotels on St George's Bay that any hotel development takes place solely for "touristic" purposes, so as to develop a luxu- ry hotel and mixed-used project. The Corinthia chain, which is owned by International Ho- tel Investments (IHI) will be given similar concessions on the price of land as those given to the DB Group for the devel- opment of the City Centre project. DAVID HUDSON THE musical talent show X Fac- tor Malta has managed to take the crown of Malta's most viewed pro- gramme on Television Malta from Xarabank, breaking the long-stand- ing record of the Friday chat-show. As expected, the audition-based reality show X Factor Malta became Sunday's most viewed programme on TVM but also beat Xarabank's Friday night viewership records. The Broadcasting Authority (BA) survey for the month of October showed that a total of 90,656 view- ers are watching TVM on Sundays at around 9pm, when X Factor is on. This is 21,000 more than those tuning in to Xarabank on a Friday night. Recommendations for constitutional and legal changes to strengthen the system of checks and balances in Malta WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2018 • ISSUE 617 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY VENICE COMMISSION PAGES 6-7 PAGE 2 X Factor Malta beats Xarabank in audience ratings as TVM's most popular show Corinthia to get DB's conditions for six-star luxury hotel resort EDITORIAL • PAGE 9 Land reclamation area between Portomaso and Xghajra is only indicative – ERA director JAMES DEBONO THE designation of a stretch of coastline between Portomaso and Xghajra for "large scale" land rec- lamation is only "indicative", ac- cording to Michelle Piccinino, director of the Environment and Resources Authority. "The map being circulated is in- dicative and is simply meant as a starting point… Further down the line we may even restrict these sea areas further," Piccinino told Mal- taToday. On Sunday MaltaToday had pub- lished a map showing that a se- lection exercise by the ERA had identified an area extending be- tween Xghajra and Portomaso in St Julian's, which includes waters off Sliema, Valletta and Cottonera including the Grand Harbour, for land reclamation. PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Neville Gafà THE NEXT MALTATODAY MIDWEEK ISSUE WILL BE PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY 9 JANUARY, 2019 The X Factor judges (from left): Ray Mercieca, Alexandra Alden, Ira Losco and Howard Keith Debono 2015: Corinthia chairman Alfred Pisani presents his group's six-star hotel luxury development with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and former tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis