Former White Rocks tenderers ‘forgotten’

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had “categorically” denied a large consortium of Maltese entrepreneurs the possibility of developing real estate at the White Rocks complex: an opportunity he is now conceding to the White Rocks Holding Co. Ltd, a British real estate and sports business consortium.

The news has led Paul Abela, president of the Chamber of SMEs (GRTU), and a member of the consortium, to issue stinging criticism of Gonzi when he told The Times that his own roots in the Nationalist Party were deeper than the prime minister's. "I was in the PN long before Gonzi... I fought for work, justice and liberty," he said referring to the historic 1987 electoral slogan that served as a prelude to a change in government.

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 planning authority in 1995 and is still in force to this day.

But the Costa San Andrea consortium had jointly approached the new prime minister in 2004 to discuss the possibility of adding real estate to the proposed hotel complex at White Rocks. The San Andrea group had already been in negotiations with tourism minister Michael Refalo regularly since 1998. Discussions had reached an advanced stage, with architectural plans and environment impact studies already submitted to MEPA.

But the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the effects of the SARS epidemic on world travel led the developers to consider real estate as the only way to render the holiday complex feasible. Specifically, the group backed up their request for real estate by proposing to government a premium above the group’s original bid.

The proposal was first put to Eddie Fenech Adami in 2003. The then prime minister refused, because the development brief for the White Rocks complex precluded any real estate.

Gonzi adopted Fenech Adami’s line in 2004, described to MaltaToday by sources privy to the discussions as “having left no option to the bidders of developing any form of real estate at White Rocks.”

After that meeting, the discussions fell through and no approach was made to the bidders to reactivate talks. Consequently, the announcement that White Rocks Holding Co. Ltd, a consortium of British realtors and architects, will now be transferred over 220,000 square metres of land – estimated by some observers at a value of €500 million – in return for a €200 million investment in a sports complex, has surprised the local business community.

A spokesperson for the prime minister told MaltaToday that the 1995 tender was a hotel development that was unrelated and “completely different” to the project for a sorts village announced this month.

“The investors, in return for a lease – not sale – agreement, shall be responsible and pay for the construction, finishing and equipping, of the sports facilities and the family park which will all be government-owned on completion and used by local sport organisations. Added to this, the investors shall bear the costs for the operation and maintenance of the facilities during the period of the lease.”

The spokesperson said the sports village was a “unique opportunity and a business model” for a quantum leap in sport, and was in line with an electoral promise for more sports investment alongside the private sector.

Already government has defended the inclusion of the residential units as “necessary” to render the project feasible. But the brief approved by the planning authority in 1995 is unchanged and still in force today, meaning that it will have to be amended so that a real estate component can get approved by MEPA.

The government has yet to open negotiations with White Rocks Holding Co. Ltd, although it is unclear what the status of the San Andrea group – as bidders on a developing brief – is at the moment.

The consortium behind the White Rocks sports village are Mott McDonald, which carried out the studies on wind energy generation in Malta; Land Use Consultants, which carried out the EIA for the botched golf course in Rabat; Gleeds, which was involved in ‘brewery redevelopment’ in Malta; and Cushman and Wakefield, which have carried out work for the Malta Maritime Authority.

Together with Faulkner Real Estate, Resolution Property and prime movers PMP Genesis, this same consortium was already involved in a real estate project in Romania.

The sports village will provide a venue for some 40 sport disciplines, events hosting, a hotel and multi-ownership complex, commercial facilities, and a family leisure park. 

Parliamentary Secretary for sports Clyde Puli has gone on record stating that without the accommodation, the project will not be feasible. “That is why we had to compensate with the units. The financial model would not work without this and the land is the price the government was ready to sacrifice for sports.”

Puli has also expressed his wish that the project for the White Rocks sports village will be fast-tracked through the planning process, much like Smart City Malta was.

The Labour Party has asked Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to give more details on the White Rocks sports village project, while Alternattiva Demokratika noted that White Rocks area borders a Special Area of Conservation which of its very nature, limits the type of development and activities permissible.