Environment Minister gets cold feet after seeing scale of Qajjenza development proposal

Energy Minister Miriam Dalli whose portfolio includes the majority state owned Enemalta has distanced herself from a real estate project proposed on the decommissioned gas plant in Qajjenza.

The residential development is being proposed by Paul Attard’s Plan Limited on land substantially owned by Enemalta.

But although the plans for this development have been known since October last year, Dalli got cold feet today after MaltaToday published the visuals uploaded by the applicant on the Planning Authority’s website. The visuals show the massive scale of the project at Qajjenza.

The minister said the government and Enemalta were not aware of this visual before it was uploaded by the developer and went on to describe the scale of the proposed development as “unacceptable” and called for it to be changed.

A visual of the proposed residential development in Qajjenza

“As soon as we have seen the visual we asked for its removal because Enemalta never issued its approval for it,” Dalli wrote on her Facebook.

The visual itself presented by architect Stephan Vancell is based on plans earmarking the site for six blocks with a height of between 22m and 35.5m. The plans have been in public domain since October last year although the visuals were only published now.

In her Facebook post Dalli insisted that Enemalta was never interested in “making land speculation on its own land and its sole interest is to give added value to the surrounding area and surely not to make things worse.”

The minister’s comment suggests the government is now having misgivings on the type of project being proposed on the site.

The visual presented by the developer also included a phantom block along the sea front which according to architect Stephan Vancell was only included to “merely show the potential height” of residential blocks which can be allowed in this area according to existing policies.

Enemalta also issued a statement saying that it was never consulted on the visual representation and therefore it had never issued its approval.

“Enemalta’s sole aim is to regenerate the land it owns in the best way possible,” the company said.

When asked by MaltaToday about this project in November last year, Dalli defended Enemalta’s decision to give consent to a zoning application proposed by Attard on the Qajjenza site.

Replying to MaltaToday’s questions at the time, a spokesperson for the minister described the site as an “important financial asset for Enemalta’s operations” and invoked the need to strike a balance “between investment and green projects through different initiatives and investments”.