Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1535229
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 MAY 2025 4 INTERVIEW MIDI CEO Mark Portelli on giving up Manoel Island: 'Not a discussion we can have' MARK Portelli effectively rules out the possibility, once floated by a predecessor of his, of MIDI plc giving up the Manoel Island concession in return for gov- ernment compensation. "Today, we are far too com- mitted with our shareholders and bond holders; it's really a discussion we cannot have," he tells me when I ask about com- ments then CEO Albert Mizzi had given in a 2012 interview. The context today is an on- going petition led by Movi- ment Graffitti and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar asking the government to take back Ma- noel Island and turn it into a national park. In a recent inter- view with me, Graffitti's Robert Louis Fenech, had argued in favour of a negotiated takeover by government that would see MIDI being compensated. "I know that Graffitti is say- ing MIDI should be fairly com- pensated and the shareholders should not suffer; it's very ide- alistic but in reality, very dif- ficult [to achieve] and in our opinion, not possible to imple- ment," Portelli tells me as we sit down in the company board- room at an office on Manoel Island, overlooking the Sliema Strand. Activists point to the con- tractual obligation MIDI has to 'substantially complete' its pro- ject by March next year to justi- fy their request for government to take back Manoel Island. However, while acknowledg- ing the existence of the March 2026 deadline—the original deadline was 2023 and got ex- tended automatically—Portelli says the concession contract does allow for automatic ex- tensions to take into account delays caused by the permitting process and archaeological in- vestigations. But Portelli adds the latest masterplan envisages up to 60% of land at Manoel Island being turned into a park, fully acces- sible to the public. Similarly, the foreshore, which the com- pany does not own, will remain accessible. MIDI plc CEO Mark Portelli sits down with Kurt Sansone to discuss the Manoel Island project and an ongoing petition by environmental activists clamouring for the island's return to the government for transformation into a national park