Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/858250
News 13 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 AUGUST 2017 country". Italy has entered the bid with the 32-storey Pirelli Tower in north- east Milan, but the building was designed and completed in 1956 and had major restoration carried out in 2003. The Pirelli building currently serves as the headquar- ters of the Regional Council of Lombardy, which will move out in 2018 if Italy is picked to host the EMA. Austria said it would lease the EMA premises on the real estate market for 25 years, for a total of at least 26,500 square metres, and has identified two buildings, the Austria Campus and VIE 26 Erd- berger Lände. Greece, which officially an- nounced its candidacy on 21 July, has suggested the former building of a Greek tobacco company as the new EMA home. The seven-storey Keranis Building, the Greeks say, has been "transformed into a high- end, fully operational building of 44,800 square metres." Germany is offering two new building projects in Bonn: the sites "Bundeskanzlerplatz" and "Friedrich-Ebert-Allee", with new buildings to be tailored to the needs and preferences of the EMA, including requirements for high- performance digital infrastruc- ture. The new building options are in an excellent central location in Bonn's Bundesviertel district. Stockholm is offering a selection of buildings at the hub of its bur- geoning life sciences district, Life City, with 28,000 square metres of space available, but also its for- mer Central Post Office building, completed in 1903 and considered to be one of the foremost monu- mental buildings in Sweden at the time. In addition to Life City and the Central Post Office, Sweden is able to offer alternative options such as Härden 15 – an existing building in the vicinity of Karolin- ska Institutet. There have been 19 offers to host the EMA: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Bonn, Bratislava, Brus- sels, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Dub- lin, Helsinki, Lille, Malta, Milan, Porto, Sofia, Stockholm, Vienna, Warsaw and Zagreb. The Commission will assess the offers based on six criteria agreed by EU leaders: assurance that the agency is operational when the UK leaves the EU; accessibility of the location; schools for the children of the agency staff; access to the labour market and health care for employees' spouses and children; business continuity; and geo- graphical spread. The Commission will announce its assessment of the bids on 30 September. After discussion with the general affairs council in Octo- ber, a final decision will be made in November. Malta's Smart City would host the EMA Pirelli Building Austria has offered alternatives to the EMA, such as this site on the Erdberger Lande Yet to be built, the Austria Campus Formerly known as Torre Agbar, the Glories Tower is Barcelona's glamorous offer to host the EMA Greece has offered a refitted tobacco factory to house the EMA JAMES DEBONO ROAD works near the Dawret il-Gudja rounda- bout opposite the MIA Skyparks have started in the absence of a planning permit. But Transport Malta is insisting that it is "collaborating" with the Planning Authority to ensure that works are finalised before the opening of schools. The works involve the shifting of soil in fields located outside development boundaries. Both the Planning Authority and Transport Malta now fall under the same minister Ian Borg. Transport Malta wants to upgrade the ex- isting junction and widen the road near the roundabout between Vjal l-Avjazzjoni and Dawret il-Gudja. But its planning application has not even been issued for public consulta- tion. Coincidentally, one of the sites impacted by the works has been earmarked for the reloca- tion of the airport's McDonalds drive-in. The PA is still assessing this application. Transport Malta confirmed that "the per- mitting process for these works started before works commenced" and that it was collaborat- ing with the PA "to make sure that they are completed as soon as possible, before the be- ginning of the upcoming scholastic year, when roads are normally expected to get busier". TM said that "any soil that needed to be shifted to accommodate the small areas where the road is being widened, was placed in other parts of the same fields, in consultation with the authorities and in full agreement with the farmers who till them". The works consist of a realignment of the roads leading to the roundabout connect- ing the Malta International Airport, Hal Far, Gudja, Luqa and the Kirkop tunnel, to intro- duce new bypass lanes for quicker traffic flows and lower accident risks. The project also aims to facilitate access to the Malta International Airport. Every morning and during the afternoon peak, over 4,000 vehicles use this roundabout every hour. One of the bypass lanes will enable cars reaching the roundabout through the Kirkop tunnel, from Kirkop, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi and Zurrieq, to get to Triq l-Avjazzjoni, to- wards Luqa, without stopping cars driving around the roundabout. The second bypass lane will facilitate access to the Airport for drivers coming from the di- rection of Gudja, Ghaxaq, Paola and Tarxien, reaching the roundabout through the Gudja Bypass. A third will enable vehicles coming from Triq l-Avjazzjoni to get to the Gudja By- pass without entering the roundabout. The aim is to reduce time lost in traffic jams at this junction, particularly to residents of Gudja, Luqa, Ghaxaq, Kirkop, Mqabba, Qren- di, Safi and Zurrieq who use these arterial roads regularly. The project also aims to facili- tate access to the Malta International Airport. McDonalds relocation 'unacceptable' – ERA The relocation of the McDonalds drive-in to a 7,000 sq.m. site outside development zones (ODZ) opposite to the Dawret il-Gudja round- about, was described as "unacceptable" by the Environment and Resources Authority. "The proposed development can be easily accommodated within the Malta International Airport," the ERA said in reaction to the ap- plication. The ERA expressed concern about further loss of agricultural land and the proliferation of "unjustified commercial developments" in the vicinity of MIA. An ERA site inspection found that works have already been started on the site, with soil having been removed from site. But a spokes- person for McDonald's made it clear the com- pany had nothing to do with the works in question. Indeed the works mentioned by the ERA are being conducted by Transport Malta and not by the applicant. McDonald's wants to construct a drive- in service, outdoor parking area, and a large landscaped area buffering the site. "The pro- posal focuses on a green building that is in- novative in design, environment-friendly and sustainable," a spokesperson for the company told MaltaToday. When asked whether the relocation included moving the existing restaurant, the spokes- person was non-committal, insisting that the company "will await the outcome of the appli- cation process and proceed accordingly". The present area is leased and any plans for the existing site are the prerogative of MIA, the landowner. No permit for Transport Malta work at Gudja junction (Gudja Roadworks) Soil has been removed from the site of a proposed McDonalds restaurant, in connection with road widening works taurant and the former Malta Maritime Authority's office – was granted by temporary emphyteusis to the RMYC for 49 years. The Lands Department testified in Court that in its expropria- tion request, the KMS felt that the RYMC would put the land to better use. On its part, the MPFA refused a €12,000 compensation payment, opting instead for court action. But a first court declared that it felt the alleged breach in contract conditions was just a pretext for the KMS's expropriation. "If the breach of contract was so serious, the council should have simply terminated the emphyteusis," the court said. "Instead it erroneously chose the easier way; that of expro- priating the land." The court said no public inter- est had justified the expropriation, and that the MPFA's intention was to use the land for a sailing club – the very same use made of the land by the RYMC – making this a case of "two weights and two meas- ures". Court evidence also points at the direct involvement of former transport minister Austin Gatt, then responsible for the Malta Maritime Authority, who sum- moned the MPFA's officials for a meeting to inform them that the government intended to take the land back. Former MPFA chair- man Anthony Bonello testified in court that Gatt had told him: "In the same way that it was we who have given you the land, we can take it back."