Did anybody mention White Rocks?

The proposed €200 million development of the former White Rocks Complex into a sports village was strangely omitted from a speech delivered yesterday by Clyde Puli, the parliamentary secretary for sport, who is supposedly responsible to see the project through to fruition.

There was absolutely no mention of the ambitious multi-million euro project, as Clyde Puli yesterday instead addressed Consuls from all over the world, and who were briefed about ‘Government’s vision for sports in Malta’.

Addressing the Consuls at the Marsa Sports Club, Clude Puli spoke of various initiatives undertaken by the government to promote sports and support the 350 registered associations and clubs, but failed to make a single mention of the White Rocks project that was launched last year together with a consortium of private UK investors.

Puli spoke about government’s intention to expand on a policy of public, private partnerships to strengthen the sports sector, and expressed satisfaction that Mepa has recently approved the changes to the local plan for the Marsa area, which envisages the development of an equestrian cente, rugby, baseball, football, athletics and archery grounds.

His reference to Marsa but not to the White Rocks project was considered odd by many, especially in the wake of MaltaToday’s breaking story last Sunday, that the UK consortium was claiming that it is  “ready to go to Mepa with plans but government is stalling on negotiations.”

Contacted in the UK, Don Brister, a director and shareholder within the White Rocks Holding Company, said: “We honestly don’t know what is holding government on this, we are very keen to go ahead with the project, but something internal within government seems to be stalling all progress.”

Brister, who is often engaged in talks with government over the project could not specify the “internal problem” but said that government had already been presented with the proof of financing one year ago, and that a lot of work had been done in the UK with regards to designs, to the extent that “the consortium is ready to go to MEPA.”

Asked to react to the story before he addressed the consuls meeting at the Marsa Sports Club yesterday, Clyde Puli insisted on a “no comment,” adding only that the “reply is standard...I won’t comment at this delicate stage of the negotiations.”

The project – launched with pomp at Castille on 9 June, 2010 – is intended to transform the derelict site in Pembroke into the ‘White Rocks Sports & Leisure Village’, providing facilities for a wide variety of sports facilities and real estate. The real estate and commercial premises would finance the sports facilities and the running of the complex during the entire time of concession, leading government not to spend a cent to build or run the complex.

The new consortium will be allowed to build 300 residential units alongside a sports complex and rugby stadium, in an area already committed by a development brief that does not allow any real estate.

The brief was issued by the Malta Environment and  Planning Authority (MEPA) in 1995 and is still in force to this day, and is being indicated as the main stumbling block faced by government to conclude the negotiations.

But six months over the Prime Minister’s projected deadline to conclude the negotiations, the UK consortium that is fronting the project says that there is no problem from their end, and that the issue is “purely governmental.”

The White Rocks Holding Company, which is registered in Ta’ Xbiex, has been described as the “special purpose vehicle” incorporated to design, construct and operate the White Rocks Sports & Leisure Village, alongside its financing partner, Resolution Property plc, a major UK real estate fund.

Don Brister says that the stall in the negotiating process has at times given rise to suspicion that government may have got “cold feet” on the project, and that the investors are “eagerly awaiting news from Valletta.”

The concept of developing the former White Rocks site into a multi-million sports and leisure complex was conceived shortly after the 2008 general election, when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi invited a number of UK sports complex developers to Malta and offered them the investment opportunity.

Formal negotiations started soon after 9 June, 2010 launch, and the company was joined by Resolution Property plc, to negotiate with the government.

This phase included all aspects of project feasibility, design, costing, planning, negotiations for the emphyteusis and ancillary project management. This phase will only end if the design successfully completes the planning process, and parliament sees fit to resolve to approve the project.