Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1363129
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 APRIL 2021 NEWS Smart City apartments facing Rinella cut down to five storeys JAMES DEBONO THE heights of new Smart City residential units near the Rinella fort will be reduced from 14 to five metres in new amendments to plans last approved in 2009. The heights along the Kalanka tal-Patrijiet opposite the Rinella fort and film facility will go down to 5m, when original plans fore- saw development rising to 14m on the coastline and 10m further inland. Now coastline units will have a maximum 10m height leading to Xgħajra, where the number of units is also set to increase substantially, from 50 to 72, as a result of a reduction in the land- scaped areas. The massive visual impact of the Smart City project was first revealed in a study for the Shore- line project, a neighbouring de- velopment that acquired its plot from the Smart City project itself. The Shoreline is owned by share- holder in the Convenience Store retail chain. Once completed, the Smart City developments will screen the Shoreline project. At the time of its approval, the Labour MP on the Planning Authority board, Clayton Bartolo, expressed con- cern on the full impact of the Smart City masterplan, which in- cludes plots yet to be developed, including tracts of unspoilt land: "It is true that the Smart City project is foreseen in a legally binding masterplan but any con- cern expressed on the Shoreline project pales into insignificance when compared to the full extent of the Smart City development." His concern was motivated by photomontages showing the Shoreline project in relation to development, which still has to be approved in Smart City.