Strip of land up for tender holds key to 26-floor hotel

A strip of land put up for tender by the Lands Authority this month holds the key to plans to build a massive 26-floor hotel overlooking Wied Għomor.

The strip of public land cuts right down the middle of the site where the hotel is planned, in an area that businessman Silvan Fenech of the TUM Invest Group claimed he already fully owns through a declaration to the Planning Authority.

TUM Invest is an offshoot of the Tumas Group.

One source familiar with planning processes said the Lands Authority made it very difficult for anyone other than the developer to bid on. 

[attach id=783633 size="large" align="left" type="image"]The tender for the public land superimposed over the planned hotel development. [/attach]

“This tender appears to have been tailor-made by the Lands Authority for the developer. Who else would put up a €14,000 bid bond and a minimum offer of €5,000 for a 45-year emphyteusis for a strip of land that must be maintained exclusively as a green zone?

“It is basically like a game of chess. Once the developer gets his hands on the middle ground, he gets his hotel.”

Another source said the land put up for tender could be used by the developer to satisfy legal...