Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/594552
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2015 News 9 JAMES DEBONO HSBC Bank Malta is in discussions with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the creation of a "new centre" in Mriehel. When asked whether MEPA has received any proposal for a high-rise development by HSBC, a spokes- person for the authority confirmed that an "initial meeting" has already been held to discuss the "creation of a new centre in Mriehel". A spokesperson for the bank nei- ther confirmed nor excluded that the bank was interested in high-rise development. The HSBC Bank Malta spokesper- son confirmed that the bank "made initial queries with the relevant au- thorities regarding the plans being proposed for the redevelopment and upgrade of the Mriehel industrial area, given the fact that the bank's operations centre is located within the boundaries of this area, so as to enable the bank to assess its position and options." HSBC already owns a centre on the Mriehel bypass. MaltaToday is informed that one of the options be- ing considered is that of a high-rise tower, given that planning policies were changed in 2014 to allow high- rise buildings in the area. MEPA is already considering two other high-rise developments there: a centre aimed at offering offices for the financial services sector, consist- ing of four towers ranging in height between 15 and 19 storeys, is being proposed by the Tumas and Gasan groups. Another 13-storey tower is also being proposed by Albert Sant, one of the owners of the JB Stores retail outlet. MEPA is also considering the Farsons Business Park, which will include seven low-rise office blocks intersected by courtyards and con- nected to a multi-level car park for 700 cars. In a new policy regulating build- ing heights, Mriehel was included as one of the zones where buildings of over 10 storeys could be located. No public consultation was held on this change to the original plan issued in 2013, which made no mention of Mriehel. This meant that the pub- lic, NGOs and stakeholders had no chance to comment on the choice of Mriehel as a site for high-rise of- fice buildings, despite its sensitive location on the line of vision on high ground between Valletta and the historic old capital, Mdina. Cumulative impacts Moreover despite the expected impact of these projects on traffic and infrastructure, MEPA has no plans to issue a development brief for the area to consider the joint cumulative impacts of all these projects. Asked what steps were being taken to ensure that traffic and air quality impacts of each project are not assessed in isolation but holisti- cally, a spokesperson for MEPA re- plied that "the cumulative impacts of projects are assessed in the EIA process" of each individual pro- posal. This was the same planning procedure used to assess develop- ments in Tigné in Sliema. So far the only EIA which has been published is that for the four towers proposed by the Gasan and Tumas groups. The EIA does not refer to the traffic, air quality and visual im- pacts of other projects which are at a less advanced stage. When dealing with cumulative impacts the EIA states that "there are no known planned major de- velopments in the immediate area of the site" except for a number of small-scale developments in the vi- cinity where construction has not yet been started". The EIS for the Mriehel towers considers the impact on air quality of an extra 2,724 cars passing along Triq l-Imdina (east and west) and Triq il-Merghat, as "negligible". But the impact could be far great- er if the holistic impact of a number of planned projects is considered. Moreover the visual impact on views from Mdina is also consid- ered negligible, but this could also change if more high rise buildings are allowed in Mriehel. The impact of the increase in traf- fic on the road network has been assessed in a Traffic Impact Assess- ment. Although completed the TIS is still being assessed by the Plan- ning Directorate and will be made available to the public once this is concluded, a spokesperson for MEPA told MaltaToday. In the Budget the government had announced that it would be formulating a master-plan for the Mriehel area to transform it into a business hub. 5BCMFUSPMMPVU GPS:FBSTUVEFOUT JO #Budget2016 HSBC not excluding new Mriehel tower No plans for holistic assessment of traffic, visual and air quality impact of the various projects now being proposed in Mriehel 43 heads of state of EU and African states confirm attendance for Valletta summit MIRIAM DALLI THE absolute majority of EU heads of state and government have con- firmed their attendance to the Valletta Summit, taking place on 11 and 12 November, in the wake of the April 2015 European Coun- cil call for an international summit to discuss migration issues with African and other key countries concerned. The conference will build on existing cooperation processes between Europe and Africa, par- ticularly the Rabat and Khartoum processes on migration, and the EU-Africa Dialogue on Migration and Mobility. EU member states, countries members of the Rabat and Khar- toum processes, observers to the Rabat process, representatives of the African Union commission and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commission, the United Nations (UN) and the International Office on Migration (IOM) have been in- vited to join the summit. According to the Valletta Sum- mit taskforce, headed by Jonathan Cardona, 43 countries have so far confirmed their attendance, al- most half of which hail from Af- rica. 80% of those who confirmed their attendance are heads of state or government. The European Union is look- ing towards the Valletta Summit as an opportunity "to forge a real Euro-African partnership" on mi- gration, Council President Donald Tusk has said. More than 700,000 refugees and asylum seekers are estimated to have reached Europe by sea so far this year, according to the Inter- national Organization for Migra- tion (IOM), but exact numbers are unclear as some may have passed through borders undetected. Germany continues to be the most popular destination for mi- grants arriving in Europe. It has re- ceived the highest number of new asylum applications, with almost 222,000 by the end of August. Hungary has moved into sec- ond place, as more migrants have tried to make the journey overland through Greece and the Western Balkans. It had 96,350 applications by the end of July. Tusk – who on Tuesday 10 No- vember will address the Maltese Parliament along with European Parliament President Martin Schulz – said that the leaders would aim at exploring possibili- ties for developing safe and sus- tainable reception capacities in the affected regions. "We will ask Member States to further contribute to the ef- forts made to support UNHCR, the World Food Programme and other agencies, as well as to sup- port the EU's Regional Trust Fund responding to the Syria crisis and the EU Trust Fund for Africa," Tusk said. A ceremony will take place to mark the signing of the Trust Fund. Combined with CHOGM 2015 – where Malta was only informed last year it would take place on the island as opposed to the custom- ary four-year preparation period – Malta is set to welcome over 4,000 participants in both summits. Over 1,800 journalists have signed up to cover the 120 coun- tries taking part in Valletta Sum- mit and CHOGM 2015. The summits will be spread over 15 venues around Malta and Gozo. According to the CHOGM 2015 taskforce, this year's Common- wealth heads of government meet- ing is set to have a record number of attendees amid increasing in- terest in the CHOGM Business Forum.