Business on the new Coast Road: One petrol pump, two kiosks, and now… a private beach

A private beach with car park is the latest in a series of planning applications aiming to exploit the lucrative potential of the recently reconstructed Coast Road.

There are now in total at MEPA two kiosk applications, and requests for a petrol station and a private beach, in the absence of any tender for the public land around the new roundabout in the Ghoqot area of the Coast Road, facing the sea at Bahar ic-Caghaq.

The beach facility and car park total over 12,450 square metres of land and are being proposed by Joseph Zammit. The proposal includes a gazebo kiosk.

The proposed developments in this lucrative area lying outside the development zone are all located on public land.

No public tender has been issued for the development of kiosks and other developments in the area. According to standard procedure, the Lands Department does not object to anyone filing a planning application involving public land, but a tender has to be issued. The catch is that only applications first granted a full permit are then eligible to participate in any public tender.

The latest proposal includes plans for a huge car park for 346 cars – as a comparison, the Gozo Channel ferries each carry about 150 vehicles when using their car decks – over two levels on both sides of the roundabout, that lies on disturbed land facing the sea. Beach facilities include two, five-metre-high gazebos on top of the parking area. No development is being proposed on the rocky shore, although pathways to the sea are indicated in the plans.

MTA objects to kiosks

Before the latest application for beach facilities was presented, the Malta Tourism Authority had objected to two kiosks proposed for the area. The MTA noted that it has “a blanket policy against the placing of new kiosks unless these are part of a wider project that benefits the community”.

Environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa described the design of the proposed two kiosks – modelled on historical towers that line the Coast Road – as “a mockery of the original historical fabric” represented by real towers on that stretch of road.

The two applications for an ice-cream parlour and a takeaway, both located on the strategically-placed land parcel, were presented by Elaine and Clint Galea, a couple from Fgura. The two kiosks are proposed to be 3.7 metres high and each occupies a site area of around 20 square metres.

The Bilom Group, one of Malta’s fastest growing construction groups, is then earmarking another tract of public land on the coast road, which is registered in the name of the ministry for transport, for the construction of a 3,000 square-metre petrol station. 

The ODZ land where the huge petrol station is being proposed is described in the planning application as “disused land”. Plans submitted to MEPA foresee the development of a car wash, a retail shop, an office and a store.