Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/767061
11 2016: Looking back maltatoday, SATURDAY, 24 DECEMBER 2016 what DIFFERENCE WILL THIS MAKE TO ME? In the short term, we'll have 20,000 more guests to look after! In the long term, we'll have an EU that works better for all of us. Putting you at the heart of Europe On 1 January 2017 Malta takes on the Presidency of the Council of the EU. We answer your questions. eu2017.mt dents compensation, Town- square director John Soler replied: "I never received com- pensation when people were building all around my prop- erty." When reminded that for some of these elderly people these may well be the last 10 months of their life… he simply replied, "there are other construction sites near which people could be living the last 10 months of their life." Being located in an industrial zone the Mriehel development has generated far less contro- versy. In fact it may well spear- head a renewal of the area. It is set around four tower blocks, organised around a central pi- azza, and sitting on top of five basement levels. Elevated walk- ways and bridges will connect the four towers. The project is to include a 975-sq.m su- permarket, an 840-sq.m gym, a 700-sq.m showroom, 1,155 square metres of retail facilities, 930 square metres for confer- ence facilities and an additional 1,000 square metres for retail. The Tumas and Gasan groups want to target companies op- erating primarily within the financial services sector that want to have their offices in the four towers, apart from pro- viding a massive supermarket, a childcare centre and retail shops. Plans earmark a floor space of 33,000 square metres for office space. One of the advantages of the Mriehel location is that the towers are in very close prox- imity to the Malta Financial Services Authority, as well as the headquarters of the main banks (Bank of Valletta and HSBC) and audit firms Deloitte and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Both applications are now un- der appeal. But while the ERA has only appealed against the one in Sliema, NGOs have ap- pealed against both. This may suggest that the government may well have a way out from the political cost of a high-rise in the middle of Sliema. The future of high-rise Controversy on Townsquare does not bode well for the 40-storey high-rise hotel on top of the historical Fort Cam- bridge officers' mess – pro- posed a short distance away in Tigné. An EIA on this project has already been submitted confirming "the scale of the proposed development would undermine the value of the landscape… with no scope for mitigation". The Paceville masterplan, which envisions 20 new tow- ers, was presented as a bold at- tempt to set parameters for de- velopment to avoid haphazard development like that in Tigné. But while the document pays lip service to urban planning, transport needs and the need to create public spaces, it was also overshadowed by the develop- ment needs of private projects in nine private sites at Pace- ville, changing the goalposts for some of the developers by shift- ing a public plaza from Mer- cury House (earmarked for a 35 storey tower) to St George's Park, envisioning a 15 storey development on reclaimed land at Portomaso and three towers on the Cresta Quay foreshore in blatant disregard of the new- ly approved public domain act. Ultimately by envisioning a threefold increase in popula- tion from the current 3,000, whose needs and aspirations were overlooked in the mas- terplan, to 9,000 and a dra- matic increase in developable floor space, the masterplan, if ever implemented could render Malta even more dependent on attracting rich foreigners and companies who set office here because of its favorable tax re- gime; possibly a boom or bust scenario for the property sector and the rest of the economy. To add insult to injury it also emerged that Mott Macdonald had acted as a consultant to the Mercury House project. Interviewed on TVM's Xtra, Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech hinted that the govern- ment itself may be having cold feet, admitting that "practically everyone" had opposed the masterplan and that he too was personally against it and that it should be redesigned from scratch. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Taking matters in their own hands: Kamp Emergenza Ambjent challenged MIDI plc by forcibly gaining access to the Gzira foreshore that was blocked by the development at Fort Manoel Controversy on Townsquare does not bode well for the 40-storey high-rise hotel on top of the historical Fort Cambridge officers' mess – proposed a short distance away in Tigné