Unesco says 'no' to laguna at lower Fort St Elmo

Unesco experts have put the brakes on a proposal to create an artificial laguna at St Elmo’s parade grounds, MaltaToday has reported. The experts have now ordered a heritage impact assessment for the fortifications. The newspaper said that a plan to gut part of the historical fort to build the laguna was submitted by Sohum Wellness and architect Ray Demicoli. They applied to restore and operate lower Fort St Elmo after a tender was issued by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation in November 2015. Theirs was the only bid and it was uncontested. The Unesco experts said turning the parade ground into a laguna with a direct access through to the sea could not be allowed. MaltaToday reported that the GHRC turned down its freedom of information request for the detailed bid proposal as well as details of the meetings held with the company and its architect. Sohum Wellness is owned by Indian millionaire Sanjeev Mansotra’s Planet Core group of companies, which is a partner to the government in Core Malta Education.Mansotra is also closely linked with Shaukat Ali, one of the prime movers of the Vitals Global Healthcare company. Mr Ali is a Pakistani businessman who is now also a...