Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1089428
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 MARCH 2019 22-storey block proposed near 32-storey high-rise JAMES DEBONO THE number of apartments on the Mercury House site in Pace- ville – which had been previously zoned for office development – is set to increase from 275 to 363 if new plans submitted by develop- er Joseph Portelli are approved. The latest application proposes the erection of a 22-storey multi- purpose block housing 88 resi- dential apartments, hotel rooms, retail shops and offices next to the already approved 31-storey tower which is set to get an extra floor. Both towers carry the signature of the international Zaha Hadid architect's firm. Portelli has also applied to in- crease the height of the main tower by 8m by adding an amen- ity floor at level 32, and a bar and swimming pools at roof level. The first plans for the develop- ment included in a dossier that has been distributed to leading real estate agents, already foresaw the development of a neighbour- ing tower of 25 floors next to a 40-storey high-rise. But the second tower was omit- ted when the first application was submitted for the PA's approval last year. In fact the high-rise, as ap- proved in January 2018, already included 275 apartments, shops and a 48-room hotel. The de- velopment was approved by the Planning Authorith board by 10 votes in favour and three against. The votes against came from PA chairman Vince Cassar, NGOs' representative Annick Bonello and St Julian's mayor Guido Dalli. The site around Mercury House, a Grade 2 scheduled building, was earmarked for de- velopment since a development brief approved in 2005, which originally limited the building height to 15 storeys and stipu- lated that the development on this site should be mainly limited to offices and shops with 'apart- ments and penthouses' limited to the "top floors". It was on the basis of this brief that Pender Ville Limited won the 2005 concession for the Pen- der and Mercury sites for Lm10.6 million (€24 million), seeing off the owners of the St George's Park site as their main rivals for the concession. An application approved by the PA in 2012 ex- tended this to two adjacent office towers of 19 and 18 floors. This part of the site was later sold to Joseph Portelli. A proposed masterplan for Paceville proposed in 2016 was aborted after it emerged that consultants Mott Macdonald had also advised Portelli on his project. MATTHEW VELLA THE federation of Maltese organisations for disabled per- sons are insisting that vulnera- ble persons who will vote in the coming European elections get to choose their own person of trust, and not a polling station commission while voting. The MFOPD (Malta Fed- eration of Organisations Per- sons with Disability) said per- sonal assistants are an asset to any person with disability in exercising their right to an independent secret vote. "As the situation stands, vulnerable persons can only be assisted by the polling station commissioners who in no way could be consid- ered as 'persons of their own choice'. It is a reality for the Federation to have received comments from vulnerable voters complaining that they were not granted their wish to be assisted by members of their family, as people enjoy- ing their trust, when it came to voting," Maria Pia Gauci said. "Such a need is even more significant with regards to persons with intellectual disabilities who should be among those whose right to vote be not withheld." Between 23 and 26 May, hundreds of millions of Eu- ropean citizens will be exer- cising their democratic right to elect their preferred mem- bers to the European Parlia- ment. "Around half a million citi- zens are so far deprived of this same right just because they are persons who are deemed to lack legal capacity due to their disability," Gauci said. "The Maltese political par- ties need not be immune to the voice of the federa- tion and its organisations demanding that they adopt policies to ensure the demo- cratic right to vote for per- sons with disability in view of the State's endorsement of the UN CRPD. It is a fun- damental fact that everyone, without any form of discrim- ination, should be able to play their significant role in shaping the future course of the European Union." Article 31 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Dis- ability (UN CRPD) protects "the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimi- dation" as well as for persons with disabilities to the right "to stand for elections, to ef- fectively hold office and per- form all public functions at all levels of government". "It is a shocking fact that 500,000 EU citizens in 16 Member States, including Malta, will not be allowed to exercise this fundamental right," Gauci said. In 2017 in Slovakia, the Su- preme Court ruled that the law tying the right to vote to legal capacity was unconsti- tutional. In February 2019, it was the turn of the German Federal Constitutional Court which issued a similar deci- sion regarding participation in national elections. On 6 December 2017, del- egates of the 4th European Parliament of Persons with Disability adopted a mani- festo demanding accessibil- ity to polling stations and voting procedures; availabil- ity of campaign facilities and materials in accessible for- mats; and the collation and analysis of data on political participation of persons with disability. "The Manifesto highlights the fact that per- sons with disability residing in institutions too should be guaranteed their right to vote independently," Gauci said. Give disabled voters right to personal assistant of their choice Disabled peoples' organisations want person of trust, not polling station commissioner, to assist them in voting process Mercury House