PN leader ‘slams’ Corinthia deal - sources

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia slammed the deal with the Corinthia Group, rebutting arguments raised by the developers to justify the price they would be paying for the land, sources said. Dr Delia was reacting to a presentation by Corinthia Group chairman Alfred Pisani during a meeting with the PN Parliamentary Group on Thursday, the sources said. The Sunday Times of Malta reported last week that the group would be paying the government €17 million to build up to 100,000 square metres of residential and office property in St George’s Bay. According to real estate agents, the land carries a market price tag of at least €700 million. Corinthia’s parent company, International Hotel Investments, said in a statement earlier this month its proposal for St George’s Bay was not about the sale of land but solely the proposed extension of potential uses. It planned to deliver “a luxury holistic six-star environment for its new Corinthia hotel”, matching the brand’s standards worldwide. The sources said Dr Delia refused to accept the argument this was a simple change of use of land subject to tourism investment, insisting this was clearly an outright sale of public land. He argued...