“The transfer of public land in St George’s Bay is worrying”: Chamber of Commerce president to Prime Minister

Speaking at a meeting of business leaders at the Chamber of Commerce in Valletta last Monday – at which the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers Christian Cardona, Manuel Mallia and Edward Zammit Lewis were present – the president of the Chamber, Anton Borg, sounded the alarm about the manner in which the government has transferred a large tract of prime public land in St George’s Bay to the Seabank Group. The land currently houses the Institute of Tourism Studies, which is Malta’s only catering college.

The sale of the land “will provide a positive effect in terms of added investment and business opportunity”, Mr Borg said, “but the actual mechanics of the deal – which involved a simple request for proposal instead of selling public land by tender or by parliamentary resolution – are worrying”.  

He said that if this procedure is adopted as a benchmark for future projects, “the payment considerations for the sale of the Pembroke land could distort the market”.

I’d say the real concern goes far beyond price distortions in the market. The real concern is corruption. And unfortunately, the Opposition is maintaining a blanket silence on that aspect of it and is instead speaking about the value of the land.

Silvio Debono of the Seabank Group (right) – an honoured guest at the wedding of Labour Party television show host Jonathan Attard (left), who is now a close aide of Economy Minister Christian Cardona, a ‘person of trust’ in his secretariat and a close collaborator with Joe Gerada, who was with the Economy Minister in a brothel in Velbert a month ago.