Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/691413
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JUNE 2016 11 News MINISTRY FOR FINANCE OFFICE SPACE REQUIRED The Treasury Department within the Ministry for Finance would like to receive offers for the lease of office space. Ideally premises should be located in Valletta or Floriana, however property in the north harbour and central region areas shall also be considered. The premises should have an area between 1,000 square metres and 1,300 square metres. Due consideration will be given to the state of the building which ideally would be ready to move into by not later than end November 2016 and does not require renovation works. Due consideration will also be given to accessibility and the energy efficiency of the building and the state of basic necessary amenities such as toilets and kitchenettes. Upon assessment of the property, the Department reserves the right to reject any of the candidate properties which do not satisfy all mandatory criteria or because of other issues typically associated with natural ventilation, natural lighting, functionality, etc. The Department also reserves the right to negotiate with a preferred candidate following an evaluation of the submissions received. The award criteria will be on the most economically advantageous basis. A list of mandatory criteria and documentation to be submitted with the expression of interest are available at www.treasury.gov.mt in the news section. Offers in a sealed envelope are to be deposited at the Treasury's Customer Care reception at Level 3, The Mall Office Buildings, The Mall, Floriana by NOON OF FRIDAY, 24 TH JUNE, 2016. Further enquiries or clarifications may be obtained by sending an email to treasury.malta@gov.mt. The Department reserves the right not to proceed further with this call for proposals and not to enter into any contract. 125-room hotel proposed on Hunters Tower site Hotel application refers to draft development brief issued in 2014 which paves way for hotel owned by former Labour MP JAMES DEBONO A 125-room hotel is being proposed on the site of the Hunters Tower restaurant in Marsaxlokk by D&B Ca- tering Limited, a company owned by Jon-Jon Dalli and former Labour MP John Dalli. The hotel would replace the well-patronised restau- rant, which is actually located outside development zones and in an area identified for hotel development in a draft development brief that was issued in 2014. The developers want to replace the restaurant with a hotel on the ground and two overlying storeys, and 40-space underground car park. An outside pool and bar area will occupy 824 square metres. The Marsaxlokk Inner Harbour Area development brief was issued for public consultation in December 2014. The brief, which has not yet been approved, says that the Planning Authority would "favourably" consider tourism-related uses, including "tourism accommoda- tion" in the Hunters Tower area, but insists proposals should not exceed the current two-storey height limita- tion. Any hotel proposal would have to include a visitor and interpretation centre to cater for the saline marshland, considered as a special area of conservation. The brief proposes a buffer zone between Hunters Tower and the marshland. "An adequate, soft landscaped buffer be- tween this zone and the saline marshland is appropriate to ensure that visual impacts, noise and light emissions, together with an increased influx of people and cars emanating from the development in this zone do not result in a detriment to the ecology of the marshland area." The PA is proposing that any hotel development be subjected to "an appropriate assessment", while the Marsaxlokk local plan identifies the area known as il- Maghluq as an "opportunity area" for mixed develop- ment that includes restaurants, fishing-related activities and open spaces. Back in 1998, Dalli applied to demolish the Hunters Tower restaurant and construct a 93-room, three-sto- rey hotel. The application was later downscaled to 59 rooms and included landscaping works and a swim- ming pool. The development was refused because it infringed up- on the existing Marsaxlokk Bay Local Plan, which states that the area is identified "for limited tourism-related ancillary facilities such as restaurants" – not hotels. Dalli's planning application also infringed Local Plan Policy MM14, which states that "development which materially and adversely affects the ecological interests of the area... will be refused". This particular policy aims to protect the salt marsh area known as Il-Ballut. The development was also refused because of the ab- sence of the "development brief" envisaged in the local plan, which was never drafted under the previous ad- ministration. But the same local plan limits any devel- opment in the area to cafe and restaurant facilities. In the appeal to MEPA's decision, architect Edwin Mintoff argued that the proposed hotel was a small one, "characterised by the smallest footprint possible to as- certain a feasible and viable hotel". He also argued that "it is not in the interest of my cli- ent to adversely affect the ecology of the area" and that his client was willing to conduct an environment im- pact assessment. Another point raised in the appeal was that the struc- ture plan itself foresees the development of tourism ac- commodation in Marsaxlokk and insists that the local plan cannot overrule the structure plan. In its response, the Planning Directorate argued that the traffic generated by the development would impact the adjacent salt marsh. It also pointed out that the pro- posal conflicts with the local plan height limitation of two floors. A tribunal chaired by Dr Kevin Aquilina in October 2000 turned down the appeal and upheld MEPA's deci- sion to refuse the hotel development. Busuttil's ODZ plan? of an appeal following a refusal by parliament, and whether the PA would be taking a vote before the application is discussed in parlia- ment. Environmental NGOs who wel- comed the gist of the PN propos- als, expressed concern on Bu- suttil's suggestion that a simple majority would still prevail ulti- mately on such a vote. And one of the risks is that a project which cannot be approved by the PA in view of existing policies, could end up being pushed for approval by the party in government in the final third vote by a simple major- ity: that would mean disregarding a negative recommendation by the PA and two successive failures to secure a two-thirds majority. Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar has expressed reservations on this aspect. "Allowing it to be debated three times, with the last ballot a simple majority vote, would open the door to permitting unaccep- table projects. The concept of 'national interest' is to be scru- pulously established to avoid the mistakes of the past," it said. On its part, Front Harsien ODZ proposed that a final simple ma- jority vote be taken only when applications were approved by the PA, while refused applications should not even be referred to par- liament. Reforming SPED Perhaps more significant than the two-thirds majority proposal is the PN's commitment to review the Strategic Plan for the Environ- ment and Planning (SPED) and remove its current ambiguity on ODZ applications. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Musumeci has asked whether PN will re-introduce the abolished Sixth Schedule that made it illegal for the PA to sanc- tion illegalities in the ODZ. En- vironmentalists would welcome such a commitment, but it could alienate those who stand to gain from regularising such buildings. Simon Busuttil has also ambigu- ously hinted at "a policy to im- prove urban environment in order to reduce pressures on ODZ land" while rejecting Marlene Farrugia's call for a moratorium on high-rise projects. This may be an indica- tion that the PN is warming up to the developers' lobby by endors- ing high-rise developments and repeating Jospeh Muscat's mantra that such projects are the only al- ternative to ODZ developments. Dangling the ODZ carrot Also pertinent and justified is the call made by Busuttil on the government to conclude the revi- sion of local plans before the next election, to avoid dangling the car- rot of changes in building heights and ODZ boundaries in secret to particular individuals before the general election. The government has hinted it intends to swap public land in the development zone with private land which is presently ODZ. In this way public land with limited development potential would be included in the ODZ while private land with vast potential for devel- opment would be added to the de- velopment zone. Busuttil has rightly expressed his fear that by dragging on the pro- cess commenced in 2013 to after the election, the government is raising the fear of pre-electoral deals with certain individuals who want their land included in the next ODZ reshuffle. One sure safeguard against a repetition of the 2006 extension of building boundaries – one of the PN's worst mistakes for which Busuttil made a generic apology – may well be that of applying the two-thirds majority rule to any such extension, thus clipping the wings of any future government from committing the same mis- take.