Failed Mosta shooting range bidders want quarry for film facilities

The film company that had set its eyes on a shooting range development near Mosta wants to develop a film facility inside an 8,000sq.m disused quarry at Ras il-Gebel in Ghajn Tuffieha.

The company, ACT Europe, was recently served with an enforcement order from the Planning Authority for illegal excavations in connection to a similar project in Mosta, in the same area previously identified for a shooting range.

The quarry is located in the Wardija ridge, which is scheduled for its high landscape value. It is also located in the vicinity of Bronze Age remains and the protected St Martin valley, 320 metres away from the Roman baths located on the opposite side of the Ghajn Tuffieha road.
Despite the area’s archaeological and ecological sensitivity, an industrial park for small workshops has already been approved in another quarry, the tal-Qormija quarry, in 2014.

The film company wants to build its own deep-water tank of over 200sq.m, and an 800sq.m shallow water tank, a 720sq.m work area, a 336sq.m office area, and a tent for a 51-metre submarine structure.

The application was submitted by Anastasia Budykho, the CEO of ACT, formerly U Group, which wanted to develop a water tank on the Busbesija site in Mosta where the shooting range was earmarked. That application was later withdrawn after the PA issued an enforcement order against illegal excavations on agricultural land in September. The company had been previously issued with a permit to use the site for filming activities through a development notification order.

The company’s proposal for a massive shooting range in Mosta was scrapped in 2015 after having failed a due diligence process prior to governmental approval.