Abela’s hotel contractors move closer to regularising illegal Xewkija settlement

Contractors working on Prime Minister Robert Abela’s private boutique hotel project in Xewkija have moved a step closer to having their long-standing demand granted, after planning officials signalled there is no need for a full environmental assessment to revise the area’s local plan.

The development concerns the Torri Gorġun area on the outskirts of Xewkija, where a cluster of illegal buildings constructed over the past decades could soon be regularised through a change in planning policy.

Senior officials within the Planning Authority have indicated that an internal Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) screening found that the proposed changes would not result in significant environmental impacts. This effectively allows the revision process to be fast-tracked without a full environmental impact assessment.

The decision was communicated in parliament by Planning Authority official Joe Scalpello, a close aide to CEO Johann Buttigieg, who confirmed that the internal assessment cleared the way for the process to proceed more quickly.

The move brings the extended Vella family, known in Gozo as ‘Tal-Malla’, closer to having a decades-long request approved: the sanctioning of a sprawling illegal settlement built on agricultural land outside development zones (ODZ).

Members of the same family are currently engaged in converting a farmhouse owned by Robert and Lydia Abela into a boutique hotel, a private investment by the Prime Minister in Gozo.

While no direct link has been formally established between the hotel project and the renewed push to revise the local plan, the timing has raised questions, particularly as previous administrations had consistently refused similar requests.

The Torri Gorġun site has been the subject of planning controversy for years.

The area, located near the Gozo heliport, is designated as rural land where residential and industrial development is prohibited.

Despite this, the Tal-Malla family gradually developed the site over several decades. The area now includes multiple residential properties, some with pools, garages, agricultural structures, and a concrete batching plant operated by Vella Brothers Right Mix Ltd, all built without permits.

Planning Authority records show that applications to sanction these developments were repeatedly refused, with enforcement notices issued over the years.

However, as is the norm in Malta, no direct action was ever taken to remove the illegal structures.

Without permits, property owners have been unable to legally sell their homes, increasing pressure for a policy change that would bring the area within development boundaries and make Tal-Malla millionaires.

The turning point came with the government’s launch of a partial review of the 2006 Gozo and Comino Local Plan, soon after Tal-Malla became the PM’s hotel contractors.

The consultation document proposed reclassifying the area as a “rural settlement,” effectively opening the door for existing structures to be regularised.

The proposed revision has faced strong criticism from environmental groups and civil society organisations, including Moviment Graffitti, Din l-Art Ħelwa, the Malta Sociological Association, and the Environment and Resources Authority.

In their submissions, NGOs warned that the move would effectively reward decades of illegal development.

The Opposition has also raised concerns about the implications of the revision.

Still, all dissent has been ignored, as the government is to announce the revision shortly.