Baħrija ODZ villas planned by recipient of millions in government direct orders

Liam Ferriggi, part of the Bifra JV consortium which has received tens of millions in tenders and direct orders from Infrastructure Malta for the maintenance of tunnels, is now seeking to build a pair of two-storey villas on relatively untouched garigue outside the development zone in Baħrija.

The plans, PA/4672/23, show two semi-detached two-storey villas each with basements and swimming pools on pristine garigue close to Triq Il-Karità, which leads to the idyllic Fomm ir-Riħ and Ras ir-Raħeb.

The application was made through Ferriggi’s property development company Infinite Fusion Properties, which he directs along with his wife Bernice. Apart from being on ODZ land, the houses would be just meters away from historic cart ruts in the area.

According to the public application form submitted to the Planning Authority, the two houses will occupy 558 square metres of land with Ferriggi also declaring he does not own the land, which, according to an enforcement notice from the late 90s on the same tract, belongs to Michael Portelli.

In May 2022, The Shift reported how Ferriggi, a business associate of Labour pollster Vincent Marmara, along with Valerio ‘Il-Ħawsla’ Camilleri of Construct Furniture received around €17.1 million through the Bifra JV consortium for maintenance works on the Kirkop, Regional Road, Msida, and Santa Venera Tunnels.

The tunnels were completed around 12 months after schedule, with taxpayers footing more than €4.6 million in extra costs.

Less than a year before that, in November 2021, The Shift reported how the Bifra JV consortium had been formed by Ferriggi and Camilleri through their Luqa company BI Ventures together with Infram SRL, an Italian road construction company from Naples.

BI Ventures is itself in part owned by another company, Bava Holdings, owned by the Construct Furniture family, also regular recipients of government tenders and direct orders.

The application for Ferriggi’s ODZ dwellings is still in its initial stages, with the Planning Authority only having released the submitted documentation on 2 August, with the application itself still awaiting recommendation.

The PA will be accepting representations from the general public until 18 September.

This article was supported by research from The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.