Sliema’s latest hotel, the 161-bed Palace Hotel, lacks an operating licence from the Malta Tourism Authority and also a permit from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
All three permits issued by MEPA in the past years were intended for an extension of the Victoria Hotel, Xuereb’s other hotel in the neighbouring Gorg Borg Olivier street.
But Xuereb has described the whole episode as a “triviality” resulting from bureaucratic formalities.
Despite his shrugging off the matter, the Malta Tourism Authority said it has taken legal action against AX Holdings so that “the applicant regularises his position without further ado.”
According to the MTA the permit issued by MEPA for the hotel is not “fully compliant with the MTA licensing conditions.”
On its part, a MEPA spokesperson said the permits issued so far were for an “extension to the existing Victoria hotel”, and that a permit is required to change the extension into a completely new hotel.
This will however require prior clearance from the MTA, the spokesperson said, before any application is validated and processed by MEPA.
Angelo Xuereb said the matter a “petty bureaucratic incident” and insisted that the hotel building “fully abides with the plans submitted to MEPA in the past.”
Xuereb acknowledged that the plans were submitted under the heading ‘extension to the Victoria Hotel’.
“How could I have known at that stage that I would be naming the new hotel as the Palace Hotel?” he protested.
He also claimed he was not aware the new hotel lacked an MTA licence when it opened its doors to guests, but added he was sure a solution to the quandary would be found. “Surely the MTA are not against having a new five-star hotel rather than an extension of a four-star hotel. We have invested more and not less money in this project.”
Xuereb has now applied with MEPA to get a permit for a new hotel. “This is just a minor amendment because the building itself respects previous permits.”
MEPA has so far issued three permits for the hotel. The first was an outline permit for the construction of the extension to the adjoining Victoria Hotel in 2001, and then a full development permit for the extension in 2003. The case officer’s report described the development as a 134-room extension, including facilities and an underground multi-storey car park.
In 2004, new amendments to the plans were submitted, which included the building of lift in a “buffer zone” between the hotel and the adjacent Tal-Grazzja chapel in High Street.
In the process however, the chapel suffered from structural damages in March.
The amendments were approved in March 2007 despite a negative recommendation for refusal by the case officer and an enforcement order against illegal works issued in 2006.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt