Ħondoq project developers drop marina. . . and propose lagoon
Developers of the €120 million Ħondoq ir-Rummien project in Gozo have submitted fresh plans, scrapping the marina and replacing it with a swimming lagoon.
The controversial project had raised the ire of environmental organisations and the planning authority’s environment unit had deemed the development “objectionable” and called for its refusal.
Inspired by the hanging garden effect of villages dotting the Italian Amalfi Coast, the proposal is for a five-star hotel, 285 flats and villas, 731 underground parking spaces, 10 shops, five restaurants and, until recently, a marina for 150 boats, all outside the development boundary.
A spokesman for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority explained that “the authority is evaluating whether the new submissions can be considered as part of the application being processed or whether these will have to be submitted as a new application”.
In any case, the new plans would still need to be screened as part of new procedures introduced at the beginning of this year when the planning authority was reformed, the spokesman said.
Moviment Ħarsien Ħondoq, which has campaigned for years against the project, said the new plans were nothing but delaying tactics.
“Submitting a new application nine years after the first one was filed and just before the case officer report was about to be published is nothing more than tactics to lengthen the process,” the group said.
Removing the yacht marina in the new plans made it clearer “that this project is nothing more than pure real estate speculation” it added.
Environmental group Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar welcomed the removal of the marina from the plans, “ensuring that Ħondoq Bay remains clean and pollution-free”.
However, the health of the residents remained its primary concern. Qala already had the second highest rate of air pollution in Gozo and the project would generate 2,000 extra vehicle trips a day, trapping exhaust emissions in the narrow old village streets, the group said.
Instead, Ħondoq should be turned into a national park, run by the council, and rehabilitated into an open space for everyone to enjoy as was originally planned in the area’s local plans, FAA said.
Together with another five environmental groups, FAA and Moviment Ħarsien Ħondoq are raising an online petition calling on the planning authority to turn down the project and convert it into a national park. Launched in August, the petition has so far attracted 3,000 signatures and can be found on http://raxerri.com/soshondoq .
posted by Hondoq at
2:42 PM
