Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504886
NEWS 5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 AUGUST 2023 'It is now time for government to ensure public access to Hondoq permanently' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "The judgement confirms that the yacht marina and tourism vil- lage will not take place," an elated Buttigieg said. "It is now time for the next step, and for government to ensure public access and enjoy- ment of Ħondoq to become per- manent." Moviment Graffitti welcomed the decision, saying it will insist that Ħondoq be given the high- est form of protection so that egregious projects of this sort no longer be proposed. The project was to include a deluxe 5-star hotel with 110 bed- rooms, 25 self-catering villas, 60 apartments serviced by the hotel, 203 apartments, 1,249 under- ground parking spaces, and village centre – which was to include a church and shops. Plans for a yacht marina for ap- proximately 100 to 150 berths were included in the original ap- plication but later dropped by the developer in plans which were not accepted by the Planning Author- ity as these were presented after the publication of a case officer re- port recommending the rejection of the project. The 104,000 square metre me- ga-development by Gozo Prestige Hotels was unanimously rejected by the Planning Authority board in June 2016. The Ħondoq development was deemed by the Planning Directo- rate to be in breach of the Strate- gic Plan for the Environment and Development as it constituted "a dense urban development" in a "coastal rural area". It was also in breach of the SPED's vision of Gozo as an "eco- logical island". The developers had appealed the refusal, however, arguing that their right to a fair hearing had been denied, as they were given only 15 days to prepare for the PA hearing, leaving them with insuf- ficient time to bring forward the experts who had authored studies in support of the application. The draft for the Gozo local plan, issued for public consultation in 2002, made no reference to tourist development in Ħondoq. But the Gozo local plan, ap- proved in 2006, facilitated the ap- proval of the project, referring to "tourism and marine related uses" and "sensitively designed, high quality and low-density buildings that blend into the landscape". Ħondoq was also identified as the site of a "destination port" – a eu- phemism for a yacht marina. The local plan has not been changed since although the pro- ject was still rejected for being in breach of the SPED objectives. Both major political parties are now opposed to the project. And while the Nationalist Par- ty has proposed changing the local plans and compensating the owners, the Labour Party included a commitment against the Ħondoq development in its manifesto. Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg MATTHEW VELLA AN emotional Paul Buttigieg said that he was in tears upon hearing the definitive appeals judge- ment that sealed the fate of the massive tourism development that had threatened his beloved Ħondoq ir-Rummien for the last two decades. "I feel an enormous load that has been lifted off me as well as off my family," Buttigieg said, whose campaign against the designation of Ħondoq for the tourism development has been ongoing since 2006. "It was then that the Nationalist administration had shifted plans for the area's afforestation, to a touristic-marine project... we always asked, why had they changed this designation?" Buttigieg said in a reference to the local plans of the time that have remained unchanged since then. Now he wants the Labour Party to back his call to make government expropriate the land at Ħon- doq ir-Rummien, rendering it public domain and turned into a nature reserve or national park. "Gozo has no national park," Buttigieg said when asked about the potential stewardship of such a project by Project Green, the authority entrusted with a €700 million budget for the development of urban green areas. "Government should be proceeding with the ex- propriation of Ħondoq... the only reason the area has never been developed is only thanks to the lo- cal council and environmentalists, as well as the press that supported us." Buttigieg, a Labour mayor who has been outspo- ken against over-development in Gozo and is also against the development of an underwater tunnel connecting the islands, said he felt his party should walk the talk on Ħondoq. "There is support from Labour – but now we must see action, so that Ħondoq is expropriated in the same it had been back in the 1960s for quarry- ing activities, and for it to become a national park." But Buttigieg also thinks that the Labour gov- ernment has yet to shake off the influence of busi- ness lobbies and the developers' industry on poli- cy-making. "Indeed this influence has to be cut down within the Labour Party," he says. "I am in nobody's inner circle. But as a Labour Party member mine is gen- uine advice: we cannot keep bowing down to the influence of developers. Look at the problems we are seeing. Who is benefiting anyway from the im- port of cheap labour? And who is becoming rich anyway on these projects... certainly not us." Expropriation potential The owners of the land at Ħondoq ir-Rummien had told government ministers they will relin- quish their rights to the land they once wanted developed into a massive 200-yacht marina with hotel and villas, for €17 million. Gozo Prestige Holidays, now owned by the heirs of Victor Bajada, had sent the Labour administra- tion a letter hoping to discuss a resolution for the sale of the land to the State – to resolve the im- passe on their Ħondoq plans. The company originally acquired the land from the Dominican Order for just €23,000 (Lm10,000) in 1988, at a full sale price of €1.5 million should the company be awarded a development permit for its yacht marina. At the rate of valuation, Gozo Prestige Holidays would stand to have a return of 11 times over its original purchase price. The company is being represented by lawyer Carmelo Galea, who forms part of the company that took control of vast swathes of land in Qala and Nadur through a feudal title claimed through the lineage of the Stagno Navarra family. In the communication to the government, Galea attached a valuation by architect Edward Bencini of €17 million due to its unique siting for high- end tourism, and the reference to tourism devel- opment made in the Gozo & Comino Local Plan, tagging it at a price of €400 per square metre on the open market. The total site is over 42,000 square metres. Galea had insisted that while the land was de- velopable under the terms of the Gozo & Comino Local Plan of 2006, the company could consider requesting some form of financial compensation for the expenses it incurred throughout its unsuc- cessful planning saga and the loss of value to the land. Labour mayor on Hondoq: now State must expropriate land for national park