Would-be Ħondoq ir-Rummien developers appeal Tuesday

Published on the Malta Independent on Sunday, 29th January, 2012. 

The developers proposing the Qala Creek project at Ħondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo will have their appeal against the rejection of the project’s new plans heard by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) on Tuesday.

The developers had axed plans for one of the project’s main bones of contention, the yacht marina, in favour of a so-called swimming lagoon – reworked plans that had been refused and that will be the subject of Tuesday’s appeal.

Environmental groups Moviment Ħarsien Hondoq, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Ramblers Association, Friends of the Earth Malta, Nature Trust, GUG, Din l-Art Ħelwa and Wirt Għawdex have contested the new plans on the basis that the developer’s 2009 report had insisted on the yacht marina as, the report said: “The project would struggle if it had to be developed as a stand-alone hotel” – without the accompanying yacht marina.

As such, the NGOs had urged Mepa to reject the project and “to allow the land to revert to its original designation as a nature park”.

Qala Local Council, they say, has already looked into the various aspects of creating an environment and heritage park, a project they insist would draw tourists to Gozo and at the same support the existing hotels and catering establishments.

The NGOs pointed out that while the disputed project is expected to double Gozo’s five-star room capacity, the fact of the matter is that current demand for five-star hotel accommodation in Gozo is weak.

“The developers stressed the point that increased room capacity (oversupply) is of major concern to the market, and to be successful the hotel needs to be part of an integrated project with features that differentiate between it and other hotels, ie the marina, thus ‘the hotel will depend on demand generated by other parts of the project’,” said the NGOs.

Mepa rejected the new application some two months ago on a technicality: that the new plans had to be submitted in a new application because they went beyond the site footprint listed in the original application.

The developers aim to build a five-star hotel, 285 villas and flats, 10 shops and five restaurants, with what was originally a 150-boat marina being changed into a proposed swimming lagoon.

Environmental groups have called for the picturesque area to be turned into a national park to be run by Qala Local Council.