Qawra Palace eyeing public foreshore

The Qawra Palace Hotel has presented an application to rebuild an existing ice-cream parlour and pizzeria and to construct a 542 square-metre platform for sundecks located partly on the foreshore, and partly on a steel platform on the sea. 

The proposed development proposed by the Qawra Palace Hotel lies partly on public land.

An application to develop the same area of foreshore was rejected twice by MEPA back in 1997.

In 2008, MEPA rejected a similar application to demolish and rebuild the ice-cream parlour and the kiosk. The two structures were only regularised by MEPA in 2001 after being developed without a permit. Other illegalities, which were subsequently regularised over the past years, included a borehole, the construction of a concrete wall and ramp and the planters surrounding the site. 

The permit to regularise the kiosks was only issued on condition that the roof of the kiosk serves as an extension of the public promenade.

The area is designated as a foreshore with the Tourism Zone, where only minor extensions of already existing structures is allowed. The local plan also stipulates that public access to the foreshore should not be compromised and that views to the bay should not be obstructed in any way.

Other applications eying a piece of public foreshore presented in the past months include one in Qui-Si-Sana and another one at Ghar id-Dud in Sliema.