Riviera eviction drags on despite negotiations

The owners of a dilapidated hotel set on the Ghajn Tuffieha promontory have applied to regularise two containers, a generator and the replacement of the Riviera Martinique’s dilapidated roof.

The two unsightly containers are being used for the storage of drinks and equipment next to the derelict hotel. Aerial photos on the PA’s website show that the building was roofed after 2012.

The area where the containers have been placed is designated as an area of high landscape value and a buffer zone for the boulder scree below.

A court case instituted by the government 11 years ago against the hotel owners, requesting their eviction from public land immediately beneath the derelict hotel, has been dragging on for the past decade. The Lands Department had cited a condition in the contract with Kevin Fenech of NMF Ltd, that states that should the hotel be closed to the public for a year, the government would have the option of taking back the site.

Redevelopment of hotel as proposed in pending application dating back to 2004

The owners have pointed out that the land on which the actual hotel is built is freehold. In fact, in their latest application to sanction the two containers, the owners claim full ownership of the land. Back in 2008 they had also insisted that another development application to redevelop the hotel should not in any way be affected by the pending court case.

But no progress was made in the pending applications to rebuild the hotel over the last 10 years.

Last April, the Lands Department told Mr Justice Toni Abela that negotiations between the parties were taking place, yet no agreement had been reached. The case has a complicated planning history, with the first application to construct a four-star 25-room hotel being turned down by the Planning Authority in 1994.

Then in 2004, the PA issued an outline permit for the demolition of the existing structure to build a three-storey building, incorporating a restaurant and multipurpose hall. Subsequently the owners applied for a full permit for the three-storey structure, located further away from the receding cliff-face. An Environmental Planning Statement concluded that the project would represent an improvement over the present derelict hotel, since it would be a smaller structure and the surrounding debris would be removed. A renewal application was presented in 2009.

The Environment and Resources Authority has proposed the relocation of the hotel to a less sensitive location outside the Special Area of Conservation, in its management plan for the Natura 2000 site.