After Minister Konrad Mizzi tried to pass the Corinthia deal through Parliament just days before Christmas, and after, thanks to the Opposition, this very controversial deal which was going to dish out public land, had to be withdrawn, now the Minister is again trying to disguise the new deal.
Netnews.com.mt asked the Minister of Tourism when it will issue the details of the deal, to which the Minister only replied that there a deal doesn’t exist.
All this whilst Mizzi also said that the Corinthia group have agreed to the new parameters. Paramaters which we’ve heard about, but nothing has materialised.
According to Konrad Mizzi, the new deal includes an agreement for there to be no land reclamation, which is nothing new given that this was already revealed by Alfred Pisani, the Chairperson of the Corinthia Group. The Minister however suggested that the compromise includes increasing the touristic value whilst slightly decreasing the residential development, although he did not say by how much.
The Minister is now using another excuse by claiming that he’s waiting for Colliers to value the land, even though the valuation of the land was already done just a few months ago.
Minkejja li l-parametri huma diġa miftehma mal-grupp Corinthia, Mizzi issa qed jgħid li din il-valutazzjoni għadha tista tibdel kollox u jkollhom jerġgħu isiru l-konsultazzjonjiet.
Even though the new parameters have already been agreed with the Corinthia Group, Mizzi is now claiming that the valuation could possibly change everything and consultations will start again.
Konrad Mizzi said that prior to the first deal, NGOs and Local Councils were consulted. However if these consultations did happen, they were definitely not given any consideration in the agreement which Mizzi wanted to dish out public land to used to develop enormous residential skyscrapers.
When we asked Minister Mizzi if he had any intention of finalising the deal before the elections in May, he only said that it should not be rushed and the valuation of land takes time.
However one wonders, whether the Minister will again repeat what he tried to do last Christmas, and quickly get the agreement approved by Parliament before the summer recess.
