Planning Authority mulling over future of Verdala Hotel

An old sign at the main entrance still promises that the extensive refurbishing and upgrading programme at the Grand Hotel Verdala will soon be completed, but the date of the reopening – 1999 – has long since been scratched off. Nearly two decades later, the once-luxurious hotel is a fast-deteriorating ruin, described by nearby residents as an eyesore, as the longstanding planning saga surrounding its redevelopment drags on. Signs still adorn what was once a pool deck, but the hotel doors remain sealed, locking in something more like a time capsule. The private grounds are cordoned off as part of the adjacent Verdala Mansions apartment complex, completed in 2004, but graffiti and shattered windows bear testament to more recent visitors, unheedful of the crumbling stonework. When it first opened its doors in 1971, the Grand Hotel Verdala, perched on the Tal-Virtu Heights in Rabat, was one of the island’s premium hotels. It was sold by the government in 1994 to developer Angelo Xuereb, who planned to redevelop it into a five-star resort with a golf course on the slopes below. But the Planning Authority repeatedly turned down attempts to build the golf  amid strong environmental...