The Lands Authority is refusing to disclose crucial information on the sale of the last remaining green lung in Mellieha to mega-developer and Secretary General of the Malta Developers Association (MDA) Paul Attard.

Through a very dubious deal coordinated by Lands Authority CEO Robert Vella, a 4,000-square-metre vacant government plot in the area known as Tal-Qortin was sold to Paul Attard, the MDA’s secretary general.

Attard, together with his associate, Paul Vella, known as ‘Tal-Ballut’, now wants to build 109 new apartments spread over five storeys, which, when completed, will fetch a market price of some €50 million.

Through a 15-year temporary emphyteusis that can become perpetual (forever), the deal was made for the paltry sum of €380,000 a year or a total of €5.4 million plus bank interest rates. Property experts value the same plot at a nearly €20 million market price.

As part of an ongoing investigation on the scandalous Lands Authority deal, The Shift asked the Lands Authority to make public the original valuation report conducted by the government agency, establishing the value of the land.

It also asked the Authority for a copy of all correspondence between CEO Robert Vella and developer Paul Attard and a copy of the minutes of the Lands Authority board meeting in which the tender issue was approved.

Sources told The Shift that while some of the board members, including Chairman John Vassallo, insisted that the Authority come clean on this deal, now that the National Audit Office (NAO) is also investigating it, the CEO is refusing to make the documents public.

The CEO of the Lands Authority, Robert Vella.

Although the large plot can be developed, the government never sold it to protect the hundreds of families living in the area from further urbanisation.

Leading up to the deal

The Shift reported how an unusual clause in the tender, Attard was given an advantage to secure the public land.

Attard owned a slice of the land within the area, which he bought off a Mellieha owner who could never get Planning Authority permission to develop it.

When the tender was issued, Attard, as the owner of a small piece of the land in the area bought a few years earlier, was given the right of first refusal. The Shift revealed that the small wedge happened to belong to T&S Properties Ltd, which has Paul Attard as its majority shareholder.

While Attard, as expected, acquired the whole plot through the tender’s right of first refusal clause, he presented a Planning Control application to rezone the whole area and get the green light to build up to five floors above ground level.

Soon after his rezoning application was accepted, despite objections, Attard presented a new application earlier this year, PA00371/24, asking to build 109 apartments on five floors and two underground car parks containing 171 garages.

Recently, residents of the already crowded area have publicly protested in front of the plot, calling on Prime Minister Robert Abela to stop this “atrocity”.

Hundreds have already made an official objection to the Planning Authority, and the NAO was called to investigate the tender issued by the Lands Authority and the sale to Paul Attard.

They also asked for a probe into possible connections between Attard, former Lands Minister Silvio Schembri, and Prime Minister Robert Abela.

So far, the Planning Authority is still considering Attard’s application.