Changes to Gozo local plan set to benefit family that sold land to prime minister

A Gozitan couple who sold a plot of land to Robert Abela and his wife Lydia two years ago will directly benefit from an odd change to the Gozo local plan ordered by the prime minister a few weeks ago, The Shift has learned.

Brian and Karen Magro, who sold the prime minister a 500-square-metre piece of land in Xewkija, without which he could not realize his private hotel project, also happen to be the owners of an LPG gas depot and storage yard situated in Xewkija’s ODZ area, known as Ta’ Gorgun, which is now designated to be changed from ODZ to an area where development is allowed.

If the Planning Authority accepts the prime minister’s order to change the local plan for their area, as expected, the large yard owned by the Magros will become a gold mine, as its value will skyrocket.

Change at the stroke of a pen

Documents at the public registry show that on 13 April 2022, shortly before the elections, Prime Minister Robert Abela and his wife Lydia signed a contract to own a large plot of land next to their Xewkija farmhouse. The vendors included Brian and Karen Magro, also from Xewkija, whose family are known as Ta Swegi.

According to a contract drawn up by Notary Enzo Refalo, the Magros sold the plot to the Abelas for €180,000.  The land is adjacent to the prime minister’s farmhouse and provides access to the road. Without it, the prime minister could not turn his farmhouse into a hotel with full outdoor amenities, including a large pool and spa.

The Shift is informed that the Abelas had been trying to purchase the land for years, but the owners had resisted. Finally, before the elections, they gave in, and the land was transferred to the Abelas.

Sellers Brian and Karen Magro also happen to be Gozo’s LPG gas distributors. They operate from a yard in the Ta’ Gorgun area, a former field. The Planning Authority gave them a temporary permit in 2011 to operate the yard until an alternative site for a proper gas depot was found in Gozo.

The permit was issued in the Ta’ Gorgun area, mainly because it was ODZ and, at least on paper, away from residences for safety reasons.

The yard’s site also happens to be next to an illegal settlement, not recognised by the Planning Authority,  where a large Xewkija family, known as Tal-Malla, built several dwellings without any permits next to their concrete batching plant, which was also illegal and is operated through their company, Vella Brothers Right Mix Ltd.

Enforcement orders to remove all the illegalities, including the illegal dwellings, were ignored for decades.

Through a ‘recommendation’ to the Planning Authority, the prime minister ordered that the area, which includes Tal-Malla’s illegal dwellings and the Magros yard, be declared a rural settlement and cease to be considered ODZ.

While the Magros sold him their land, the Tal-Malla family are his contractors turning his farmhouse in Gozo into a hotel.

Until November 2022, Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted that the Local Plans could not be changed as this would create new injustices.

In a classic U-turn, he ordered new changes to fit the needs of Tal-Malla and the Magros and another in St Julian’s to satisfy the requirements of mega-developer Anton Camilleri, known as Tal-Franċiż, for his Villa Rosa project.