Public won't benefit from Seabank deal, Graffiti activists warn

The government’s decision to transfer prime public land in Pembroke, currently occupied by the Institute for Tourism Studies, to Seaport Franchising for the development of a hotel has been harshly criticised by left-wing activist group Moviment Graffiti.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Thursday announced that the government has formally sealed a €60 million deal for the transfer of land at St George’s Bay to Seaport Franchising, the company owned by hotelier Silvio Debono of DB Hotels.

The plans include a €300 million project for a 315-room hotel under the Hard Rock Franchise, as well as 209 residences. According to Debono’s DB Group, the development will be “the most sophisticated place to go to in Malta”.

However, Graffiti lambasted the Seabank deal as the latest in a long line of transfers of public land to private companies – most notably Tigne Point, Manoel Island, Portomaso, SmartCity, Zonqor and Dock 1  - and warned that it will only benefit a few business interests.

“The ‘trickle-down’ justification that such deals benefit everyone due to job creation does not hold much water,” Graffiti said. “Constructing hundreds of luxury apartments and facilities for the super-rich, in a context where most Maltese are struggling to rent or buy a most basic home, might create a few low-paid jobs in the short-term; in the long-term it only means that the land in question, and its potential for social and economic development, is forever lost to private gains.

“It is extremely worrying that swathes of public land, Malta’s scarcest and most precious resource, are being siphoned from the Maltese public and given for private profits.”

Moreover, Graffiti questioned why government agreed to transfer the Pembroke land for €60 million when it was valued at around €212 million in the Paceville masterplan, and warned that it will be making a €14 million loss from the deal - given that it will cost around €74 million to relocate the ITS school to SmartCity.

“It is ironic that government will now be paying another private company for the ITS relocation, to use land that was once public and leased for a pittance,” it added.