Green patch in Valley Road targeted for five-storey block

One of the last patches of lush greenery reminiscent of what the Msida valley once looked like before it was transformed into Valley Road, could end up being replaced by a five-storey block.

The apartment block is being proposed on the 50 metre-long stretch of the road opposite the VAT Department, at the mouth of Birkirkara.

The 301sq.m plot is described as “vacant” in the planning application by property developer Roderick Bezzina, who owns the entire site. Although the site is mostly covered by trees and shrubs, the applicant said no trees will be felled because of the development, and the existing water course along Valley Road will not be touched by the development with a 3m-passage between the canal and the residential block being retained.

The site was once safeguarded as a ‘white area’ before 2006, where no development was to be allowed until the approval of local plans that same year. But subsequently, the approved local plans zoned the area for development of up to two storeys and a semi-basement.

Already in 1999, the PA had refused a permit to George Portelli for a showroom with two overlying floors of offices, because the project compromised the water course and aahigh retaining wall at the back of the site, and the area had not yet been zoned. The PA’s planning directorate had found the development to be “nsensitive to the characteristics of the site, which “includes lush vegetation and other features which should be protected.”

Bezzina’s proposal is for 10 garages at ground floor level and four overlying floors of apartments.

Another nearby patch of greenery next to a public staircase linking Valley Road to Triq il-Parilja in Santa Venera is also being proposed for an 11-storey commercial and residential development, proposed by George Portelli’s Right Properties. But the application has been suspended following strong objections by local councils and residents.