Proposed development at Ta' Cenc
Ta’ Cenc is one of Malta’s last remaining unspoilt, natural habitats. It is home to a number of rare endemic plant species and significant numbers of breeding birds (including several rare or declining species). Due to its importance to breeding seabirds and other threatened species, Ta’ Cenc has also been designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Yet, despite the natural importance of the area the Malta Environment Planning Authority (MEPA) has so far failed to safe guard the entirety of this important habitat by designating it as a Natura 2000 site .
As a result this important habitat is now under threat by a development proposal that includes the building of a new hotel in the existing Bird Sanctuary and the building of villas overlooking Mgarr ix-Xini which according to the proposal will be located outside the permitted Development Zone.
This development proposal put forward by Victor J. Borg is unacceptable in so many ways that should MEPA accept this development it will not only violate Maltese legislation but also the main conservation Directives of the European Union:
The hotel development is proposed to be built in the Important Bird Area (IBA) and the Bird Sanctuary.
There is also a pending infringement procedure opened by the European Commission against Malta for insufficient SPA designations, including the IBA that is left out of SPA designation in the area that the developer proposes to build the new hotel.
The proposed development of the villas is to be located outside the Development Zone (as defined in Maltese law).
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) does not include a significant portion of the land that is subject to further development, including a possible golf course and plans for another hotel.
Following the MEPA case officer’s report that recommended the rejection of this proposal, the developer sent a letter to the Director of MEPA on 20 November 2007 indicating that he will be making changes to the development proposal. However, these changes do not address the majority of concerns raised in the case officer’s report. Moreover, the developer now intends to amalgamate the new hotel with the hotel extension in a way so as to make them look as one. But he fails to mention that this development will still take place in the Bird Sanctuary.
A development of this nature will directly threaten some of the most important, and internationally important, breeding seabird colonies in Malta. It will also have serious implications for other breeding bird species (many of them rare and declining in Malta) as well as a range of other flora and fauna. BirdLife Malta, therefore, believes that Natura 2000 status for the whole Ta’ Cenc area is the best possible way of safeguarding this important natural habitat.
To read BirdLife's media briefing, please click here (updated December 10, 2007).
To view the press release issued by BirdLife Malta regarding the letter sent by Victor J. Borg to MEPA on November 20 please click here.