Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/748968
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PG 9 • Editorial PAGES 6, 7 WEDNESDAY • 9 NOVEMBER 2016 • ISSUE 495 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Barter proposed for St George's Park expropriations JAMES DEBONO THE owners of St George's Park - one of the nine sites identified for high-rise development in the Paceville masterplan - are claiming that the Planning Authority has proposed to pay for expropriations on their site by granting more floor space instead of monetary com- pensation. This could see the proposed high-rise on the site being granted an increase in Gross Devel- opable floor space than would apply if normal criteria are applied. The site includes a 300-bed hotel, part of which will have to make way for a new pub- lic plaza originally proposed around Mercury House in a development brief issued in 2005 but shifted by the new masterplan to Saint George's Park. Although the master plan allocated €151 million for so-called "appropriations" the amount remains the same for both Option 2, which does not include the plaza in Saint George's Park and Option 3, the preferred op- tion which includes the new plaza. In a report presented to parliament's envi- ronment and planning committee the owners of St George's Park Co Ltd, which include the Testaferrata Moroni Viani, family described the masterplan as "discriminatory" claiming that it favoured the Mercury House develop- ment. Mott MacDonald - the consultants com- missioned by the PA to draft the masterplan - were previously engaged as consultants to the Mercury House developers. This revelation has led the government to demand a review of the plan. The St George's Park owners claim that the enlarged Paceville Plaza as envisaged in the Masterplan "amputates" their site, which presently includes a 300-bed hotel and vari- ous third party businesses and residences. PAGE 4 ON the eve of yesterday's historic US presidential election, Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton appeared to enjoy a slight but comfortable lead over Donald Trump in the final round of national opinion surveys. If you are reading this you know the name of the next US president but by the time of going to print all indi- cations pointed towards a tight race and it was unclear whether Clinton or Republi- can nominee Donald Trump would be the next occupier of the White House. In what must be the most fiercely contested US presi- dential election in living memory, Clinton held the lead throughout most of the previous six months. But as seen in the Brexit referendum in the UK, polls are not always accurate and this has been one of the most unpredictable and di- visive campaigns in US his- tory. Clinton entered polling day with a 4% average poll lead, ref lecting a late surge in the last 48 hours before polls opened. After a gruelling 18 months on the campaign trail, Clin- ton and Trump cast their votes yesterday morning as millions of Americans head- ed to polling stations across the country. Their ballots followed those of the more than 46 million people who voted early this year, a sharp in- crease over the 32.3 million people who voted early in 2012. Will it be Madam President Clinton or President Trump? The St George's Park project includes a 300-bed hotel, part of which will have to make way for a new public plaza