Complaints pour in thick and fast after parliament formalises illegalities at UNO club

Residents who have complained for years about noise pollution from the UNO club in Ta’ Qali have once again taken to social media after Members of Parliament steamrolled over their long-standing objections.

On Monday, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici justified the extension of public land granted to UNO club, of which Zammit Tabona is one of the owners, by another 50 years by telling Parliament “government policy” was to “encourage long-term investment”.

The extension was granted despite illegal occupation of public land, for which the company was given a one-time fine of €431,000 – a pittance compared to what the club makes in a single season.

Furthermore, under the new agreement, the club owners will only need to pay €126,212 per year over the next 50 years.

Complaints from residents who’ve been dealing with unabated noise pollution for decades began to pour in all over social media posts reporting the latest concession.

Referring to the club owners’ decades-long history of illegalities on the site, one user questioned whether illegal occupation of public land is “the new condition for the granting of special leases and extensions by the government”.

Among the residents’ main concerns was whether the government had included any restrictions on noise pollution in the new 50-year concession.

Other users further questioned why the land in question was not subject to an open call for tenders prior to the previous lease’s expiration.

“I’m sure residents of four (surrounding) localities will be grateful! How is this serving the best interests of the wider public?” another asked.

Referring to a legal notice enacted in 2024, Bonnici described the government’s policy of granting temporary ground-rent contracts to operators of government-owned commercial property as necessary to ensure that “sustainable economic value continues to be generated” by operators.

The Culture Minister’s intervention in Parliament occurred two weeks after Parliament’s National Audit Office Accounts Committee formally approved a request from Odel Company Ltd, the leaseholder, to grant the 50-year ground rent concession. Parliament formally rubber-stamped its approval on Monday.

Part of the site was formally transferred to Odel Company Ltd in August 2017, with an annual rent payment of €23,143.76. U

Under the new agreement, the annual rent has been increased by €103,070 per year.

Minister Bonnici told Parliament: “The leased area, together with additional adjoining areas amounting to 860sqm are currently occupied by the company without a valid legal title. However, these areas are covered by a development permit issued by the Planning Authority.”

“Following an assessment of the application submitted by Odel Company Ltd, the Malta Industrial Parks Authority concluded that the request satisfies the established legal criteria,” the minister added, noting that the annual ground rent was calculated at a rate of 2% of the free and unencumbered market value of the site, which was estimated at €6.3 million.

While the company held a valid lease title to part of the land, its years-long illegal occupation of “additional adjacent areas” will now be effectively sanctioned through the payment of a one-time penalty of €431,000.

Odel Company Ltd is owned by Plus 356 Entertainment Ltd, which in turn is owned by 356 Entertainment Group Ltd and by Live Nation (Music) UK Ltd, a UK-based company. The four primary shareholders of the local group are Trevor Randolph Camilleri, Francesca Manduca, Edward Zammit Tabona, Gerald Debono, and Nicholas Spiteri.

356 Entertainment Group has benefited immensely from government subsidies for festival organisers, receiving millions of euro in sponsorships from the Malta Tourism Authority via a close associate of the organisers, Lionel Gerada.

While Gerada’s generous €6 million splurge on those sponsorships did attract some scrutiny from the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, the former Chair of that committee, Opposition MP Beppe Fenech Adami, had previously told The Shift that no competent authorities had followed up on the committee’s efforts to look into any potential abuse.

More recently, 356 Entertainment was yet again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons – this time, over a floating beach club which both Sliema and Mellieħa’s Mayors have already heavily pushed back against. The operators are now planning on mooring off the coast of Comino.

Branded as a floating luxury entertainment venue, the Noma Island Club has already been rejected by French activists and local citizens following its first attempt at mooring off the French Riviera.