PA withholds application to turn idyllic Mosta site into another hotel

The Planning Authority has suspended an application to turn the historic Busbesija British military barracks in Mosta into a five-star luxury hotel after its own planning officials concluded that the proposal, as submitted, cannot be approved.

Rather than proceeding to a vote on the case officer’s recommendation for refusal, the Planning Commission decided to put the application on hold and allow the applicants to submit substantially revised plans should they wish to pursue the project.

The decision effectively means that the current proposal is dead in its present form.

The application, filed by Manatura Operations Ltd, owned by businessman Conrad Borg – who also owns mega-construction company, GP Borg Ltd – sought permission to transform the abandoned British-era barracks into a 30-room boutique hotel complete with private pools, a spa, conference facilities, a restaurant, a communal swimming pool and six luxury tented suites spread across more than 7,000 square metres of countryside.

However, in a detailed report prepared for the Planning Commission, the Development Management Directorate concluded that the project went far beyond the rehabilitation of the historic military complex and instead amounted to the overdevelopment of a sensitive ODZ site.

Planning officials found that the proposal, designed by architect Edwin Mintoff, failed on several fundamental grounds.

According to the report, the applicant failed to provide key information requested during the assessment process, preventing the authority from completing its evaluation of the project’s heritage and transport impacts.

Officials also concluded that the proposal breaches the Rural Policy and Design Guidance, which permits the rehabilitation of historic rural buildings but not extensive demolition, reconstruction and major new construction.

The directorate also criticised the project for extending beyond the footprint of the former barracks onto land with agricultural potential. The application also failed to secure positive assessments from the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Environmental Health Directorate, while the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had yet to conclude its assessment because essential information requested from the applicant had not been provided.

Throughout the report, the case officer stresses that the proposal is unacceptable ‘in principle’, arguing that the policy governing historic ODZ buildings is intended to preserve structures of heritage value while limiting intervention to the absolute minimum. Instead, the commercial requirements of the proposed hotel have driven a level of excavation, rebuilding and expansion that fundamentally conflicts with that objective.

The Busbesija site occupies one of the most environmentally and historically sensitive areas in central Malta.

It lies within an archaeological setting, borders two Areas of High Landscape Value and contains a British military complex that has been proposed for scheduling because of its heritage significance.

The proposal also marks a significant departure from the government’s original plans for the public site.

When the government announced the preferred bidders for several abandoned public properties more than a decade ago, Busbesija was earmarked for a shooting range and sports facilities. Following the granting of a 45-year concession, the project later evolved into plans for yet another luxury hotel.