New owner applies for Riviera hotel extension

Plans have been submitted for a major extension of the Riviera Resort & Spa in Marfa. The new plans include the addition of rooms with sea views, a recessed fifth floor and a landscaped parking area, the pedestrianisation, extension and landscaping of a "public sea front promenade" and new traffic arrangements for the nearby ring road.

The application presented on 7 March is still being screened by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The hotel was sold by construction magnate Charles Polidano to FTI, a company owned by German company Frosch Touristik, in 2011.

The Riviera, formerly the Solemar, was the centre of a planning controversy in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

Polidano first applied for an extension of the pre-existing Solemar hotel in 1997, but despite a negative recommendation by the Planning Directorate, the extension was approved. In 1998, Polidano applied for another extension, but the application was refused in 2000. Despite the refusal, the expansion was still carried out illegally. In 2001, MEPA was asked to sanction the extension retroactively.

The case caused wide embarrassment within MEPA itself, creating a strong rift between the board and its planning experts. While the Planning Directorate had urged a refusal, arguing that the development was incompatible with the rural and coastal characteristics of the area and also ran counter to the Structure Plan, the MEPA board proceeded to legalise the development after imposing a Lm200,000 (€460,000) fine on Polidano.