‘Manoel Island would make the nicest park’ – Gzira mayor

Manoel Island should be turned into a park, making it in the nicest spot in the area and helping to counter-balance the high density of population and buildings in the area, according to Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche.

He told MaltaToday that such a proposal would definitely not be welcomed by all parties involved but stressed that Manoel Island was also the only area left in the vicinity that could be utilised as a park.

Replying to a blog by Michael Briguglio, in which the activist challenged the Gzira mayor to get the local council to officially support Alternattiva Demokratika’s proposal for government intervention to turn Manoel Island into a park, Borg Manche said he could only speak for himself at this stage.

He said that the local council had not yet discussed whether to offer formal support to the proposal, and that was why he had made sure to make it clear that he was speaking in his own personal capacity.

The local council will meet again in around two and half weeks’ time.

Borg Manche said that ever since elected mayor in May 2015, he had worked on the issue without any prodding from anyone.

The comments section on Michael Briguglio's blog

“I found it strange that a foreshore measuring a bit less than a kilometre could be closed by a developer who is not doing any development whatsoever,” he said. “I knew something was wrong and I was right.”

Borg Manche said that turning Manoel Island into a park would be a good counter-balance to the high building and population density of the area, including, Sliema, St Julian and Msida, besides Gzira.

In a comment on his blog page, Briguglio praised Borg Manche for coming out in support of the proposal and invited the Gzira local council to join the campaign for a masterplan on highrise buildings.