Editorial | A billion euros worth of development in the Golden Triangle

Yesterday Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti handed down two decisions and ended a years-long battle by green groups and residents to stop the development in St George’s Bay from moving forward.

The decision in court allows the db project on the former Institute of Tourism Studies building to go ahead and reconfirms that the area once known as the Golden Triangle will see some of the most extensive development projects ever experienced.

A stone’s throw away another project known as the Villa Rosa complex by Anton Camilleri with a number of high rise towers is also planned.

Further away, another project financed by Paul Xuereb is also underway.

These join the Joe Portelli’s Mercury Towers, now in its final stages, and the adjacent Pender Gardens.

This crop of new mixed development projects complements the exisiting hotels and luxury residences at the Hilton Portomaso, the Intercontinental, the Hyatt, the Radisson, The Westin and Corinthia Resort.

This will transform this rather small area into a Golden Triangle of high end apartments, hotels and catering establishments.

The db project proposed in 2017 and spearheaded by the founder of db Silvio Debono includes the construction of a 12-storey 5-star hotel, as well as 179 residences housed in two towers. The plans include office space, a shopping mall, restaurants and a car park.

The density of the development is worrying but the owners of the complexes and different projects argue that when completed the area would have undergone a tremendous upgrade the likes of which has never been seen in Malta.

One will have to wait and see.  What is sure is that the area in itself will be such a hub of construction and development in the next five years that one wonders what impact this will leave on the foreign visitor to the area.

The total new investment in the area is close to €1 billion euros and this will trigger a multiplier effect in the construction and services industry that will reap dividends in the Maltese economy.

Malta would then boast of having an area equivalent to any high-end and high rise coastal town in the world.

Yet the spurt of development needs to be calibrated with a conscious effort to address our planning laws and planning policies to allow for some normality in the type of development happening outside this location in both Malta and Gozo.

The type of accommodaton in this area and the services offered will have little in authenticity but plenty in quality. Tourism as we know needs to be diverse and it is important to ensure that Malta and Gozo’s other areas do not fall within the same planning vision as the Golden Triangle.

Once again it depends on visionaries to map out a sustainable future for this small island state.