Portelli’s Xlendi massacre, opposed by PM, slated for approval

The Planning Authority is slated to endorse a major residential development in Xlendi this week, despite Prime Minister Robert Abela having previously warned that the project risked inflicting “permanent” damage on the Gozo coastal village.

The application – filed by rogue Gozitan businessman Joseph Portelli, Mark Agius, known as Ta’ Dirjanu, and Daniel Refalo – foresees the construction of 46 small apartments on the ridge overlooking Xlendi Bay. The scheme would rise in terraced form to the equivalent of 13 storeys, exceeding what is permissible under the area’s local plan.

The proposal has attracted hundreds of objections, prompting an unusually blunt intervention by Abela last September, when he described the scale of the development as “too harsh” and warned that it risked “destroying the natural beauty of the place”.

His remarks came amid heightened public pressure as well as political debate triggered by comments from newly appointed opposition leader Alex Borg, who briefly appeared open to high-rise construction in Gozo before retracting the statement.

Despite the prime minister’s rare comments, the Planning Authority’s directorate has recommended approval of the permit – PA/01633/24 – following its assessment of the application.

The case has also been reassigned from the Planning Commission, chaired by pro-developers Elizabeth Ellul, to the higher-level Planning Board, a move that affords the government greater influence over the final vote.

The developers had originally applied in 2020 to demolish the existing structures on the site and construct a hotel. Subsequently, they shifted to a residential model, as part of a wider pattern of high-density projects across all Gozo.

Portelli, Agius and Refalo are regarded as longstanding financial contributors to both major parties, particularly to those who happen to be in Government.

Before the last elections, Robert Abela attended a fundraising dinner at Ta’ French restaurant in Gozo organised for him by Portelli and Ta’ Dirjanu.

The company behind the Xlendi proposal is the same entity that, earlier this year, ‘sold’ a duplex penthouse in Victoria, Gozo, to the Affordable Housing Minister, Roderick Galdes, for just €140,000 – a transaction much lower than current market prices.

Through Galdes’s Ministry, companies associated with Portelli and Agius have secured several government contracts in recent years, receiving millions from state coffers.