With Manoel Island looking set to be returned to the government, Matthew Bonanno speaks to activists about a 25-year fight Developers have been pitted against grassroots activists about the future of Manoel Island, an 18th-century island rich in history. The government and opposition have dramatically backed a campaign to turn it into a national park and developers MIDI say they want to return it to government hands. The details are yet to be hammered out but a new chapter is opening. Here’s a timeline of a campaign told through the people who fought it. 2000: The contract is signed Following negotiations that began in the early 1990s, the government handed over Manoel Island, together with Tigné Point in Sliema, to MIDI plc through a 99-year lease. While groups like Moviment Graffitti decried the project, NGOs put up little resistance. “There was a sense of fatigue after the protest against the Portomaso project a few years earlier. We were also occupied with other issues such as the Kalkara valley project and the golf course, as well as various other social and humanitarian issues,” said Mary Grace Vella, a veteran Graffitti member and academic. When MIDI sealed off the island to the public shortly after being awarded the concession, Gżira residents held a small protest, but the campaign was not sustained and the movement fizzled out. For the next 16 years, Manoel Island would continue to be closed off. 2015: Back on the agenda When Konrad Borg Manché was elected Gżira mayor in May 2015, he says he immediately sought to reopen access to Manoel Island. “It didn’t make any sense that it was closed. I approached MIDI to propose holding an event in the fortress. After deliberating for some weeks, they told me they wouldn’t grant access to ‘outsiders’,” he said. 2018: Guardianship deal signed In 2018, the Gżira council signed a guardianship agreement with MIDI with the goal of guaranteeing protection and public access to the island’s heritage buildings, foreshore and green areas. The agreement saw the setting up of the non-profit Manoel Island Foundation, headed by environmentalist and lawyer Claire Bonello as chairperson, with members Borg Manché and then-deputy mayor Ralph Mangion, and MIDI CEO Mark Portelli. “The rationale behind the guardianship agreement was to crystalise the maximum heights, open space and access once the full development permit was issued. By means of the agreement, MIDI, and anybody it sold or transferred to, would have to abide by these conditions permanently. If they breached these, the foundation was granted a right of action in court to rectify the said breach,” Bonello said. 2025: Post Għalina Last March, a new campaign with the name Manoel Island: Post Għalina (A Place For Us) was launched, spearheaded by Moviment Graffitti and fellow environmental NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar. The activists argued that the concession agreement should be ripped up due to contractual breaches by MIDI. The opening move of the campaign was a parliamentary petition, which ended up attracting 29,000 signatures, among them from several members of parliament. The contract states that works on the planned luxury accommodation must be “substantially complete” by March 2026. Activists argue this is impossible and, therefore, the government has the necessary leverage to negotiate a more favourable deal for the public. While both Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition leader Bernard Grech initially poured cold water on the prospect of turning the island into a park, both party leaders went on to endorse the idea. Hours before a late-night statement issued by MIDI, Abela said in an interview that he was ready to fight for Manoel Island to be turned into a national park, while also indicating that the government was gearing up to file a judicial challenge against MIDI. Late on Sunday night last week, the MIDI consortium released a statement to the stock market announcing that it was committed to finding a solution that could return Manoel Island to government hands. What next? The consortium appears to have yielded to pressure from activists who for the past three months have carried out a sustained grassroots campaign to turn the island into a national park. While it remains to be seen how the next phase will unfold, activists expressed cautious optimism that a satisfactory conclusion could be reached. “MIDI will no doubt press for compensation for the restoration works carried out on the fort, but not to the tune of hundreds of millions as has been stated,” said FAA coordinator Astrid Vella. Vella said the campaign has so far been a success because it brought together several NGOs that carried out a positive campaign. “The public stood up to be counted,” she said, while praising politicians for “going back on their word and reassessing the situation”.