“Only Malta loses on Xemxija Ridge irrespective of the short term gain for the economy,” says Simone Mizzi, Executive President of Din l-Art Helwa, “as the area previously known as Mistra Village Holiday complex is now set to be developed into a vast urban metropolis.”

The NGO said that, 9 Mepa board members voted in favour of the massive 744 apartment project and 5 voted for it to be modified yet again to a more appropriate scheme. Din l-Art Helwa maintained that the “outline permit granted in 2008 followed misleading and incomplete information to the former MEPA board and demanded the revocation of this permit citing Article 77 of the Environment and Planning Act.”

The request for revocation of the outline permit by the NGO was thrown out by the Chairman, Mr Vincent Cassar, at the start of the meeting, “Mr Cassar stated that the Board had considered the request and found it to be legally unjustified. The Chairman said he did not have to make public the considerations that led to this decision,” DLH said.

“It is very concerning,” said Ms Mizzi, “that the efforts to protect Malta’s environment, in this case a sizeable chunk of important scenic landscape, should be left to NGOs when the real responsibility of championing the environment should be that of Mepa itself. I am comforted by the fact that there were five members of the MEPA Board who wished to see the project modified so its effect on the landscape would be mitigated or who insisted that local regulations governing the permit would be observed.”

“However, the Board based its decision on an as yet unapproved high rise policy, the Floor Area Ratio, that calls for a maximum of 8 floors to be allowed, when this permit was in fact granted for 12, ‘hardly a small departure from the Local plan which in essence allows ,” said Ms Mizzi.

“This policy also obliges the Mepa board to ensure that the resulting building is ‘of a high calibre quality building,” ‘but what we saw projected,” added Ms Mizzi “were multiple repetitions of boxes accented in red, blue and green that were still massed in a most unnatural adjacency to the surrounding landscape.”

She reiterated that “the MEPA board, in the absence of any Aesthetics Board or Style Committee, would have to shoulder this responsibility and by approving this scheme of massive blocks accept that it did actually fulfill this requirement.”

Another unanswered question, said the NGO, “was that of the complete reversal of the Traffic impact statement made by Transport Malta’s CEO, described in his letter of August 2013 to the Board as being of no objection.”

“This is a complete departure from the comments made previously in 2008 by Transport Malta’s experts who had stated that any additional traffic would impact most seriously on the single lane traffic between St Pauls Bay and Mellieha, itself the main thoroughfare to Gozo.

“The justification given in the report to the Board was that as the number of flats had been reduced from 994 to 744 the impact on traffic was no longer objectionable. Din l-Art Helwa contended this conclusion was absurd and totally unacceptable,” the NGO said.

In a press statement Ms Mizzi said that “the major concern now is that with the acceptance of this project the precedent for tall buildings to be built on hills and ridges has been set.”

“Malta does not have much in the way left of unspoilt landscapes and open countryside, said Ms Mizzi.

“This design of the former Mistra Village Complex, itself a Din l-Art Helwa award winner several years ago for its use of local materials and traditional style, still could be more sensitive to the landscape. Its massive volume will be a permanent unpleasant blot for miles around.”

Ms Mizzi said after the MEPA hearing “that she was happy to hear the Kuwaiti developers say that they would consider improving this design yet again.”

The NGO President said she hoped they would make it kinder to the eye and more in keeping with the natural contours of the land. “We trust they will be true to their word,” concluded Ms Mizzi.

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