Feb 17 - Government Resolves Ocean Village Agreement - World Trade Centre to Go Ahead
An announcement made by the Government today outlines their decision, along with the Ocean Village Group, to move to resolve the impasse agreement made with the former administration. The new agreement recognises that the Development and Planning Commission is independent of the Government and planning permission will be required in all instances as appropriate. It does not purport to bind Government Ministers and employees on the Commission to support any application by Ocean Village.
The new agreement also means that the Ocean Village Group is free to continue with investment projects, such as the World Trade Centre, between Marina Bay and the Victoria Stadium.
The project will ‘provide an entry point into Gibraltar for companies and will help foster local and international partnerships through the World Trade Center Association network which includes companies with global brands, such as Apple, MasterCard and JP Morgan’. The project is set to raise the international profile of Gibraltar as a place to do business. Along with it comes plans to convert the current car park by St. Anne’s School, into a multi-storey car park for over 500 cars, including provision for car parking for motorists who live in the local area.
A further project has already seen the construction of Trinity House, by the Southern entrance to Ocean Village. The nearly carbon neutral building has already been pre-let to an international bank.
The development of short-stay / rental residential accommodation will also go ahead, on the sea in front of Marina Bay. The current space between the Grand and Majestic Ocean Plaza buildings, currently holding the Ford garage, will see the construction of a further residential building.
Commenting on these advancements Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Garcia said, ‘It has taken many months of detailed negotiations to arrive at this agreement and it is one that meets the policies of the Government and the requirements of the developer. With such substantial sums of investment to be made, the developer requested a confidentiality clause in the agreement, however, in the interests of openness and transparency, both sides agreed that a statement should nonetheless be issued. The Government also welcomes the construction of Trinity House, using materials which are substantially sustainably sourced and achieving close to a carbon neutral building structure.’
An Ocean Village spokesman added, ‘we are delighted to have resolved a whole range of issues together with the Government. We can now focus delivering progress through our proposed investments in Gibraltar. The much needed World Trade Centre, is ready to go. The public and business community will see this development move very quickly after proposed improvements which include huge reception area and an atrium full of trees, hopefully gain planning consent. The World Trade Center Gibraltar will deliver the highest quality office space and be the largest single office building in Gibraltar, to help enable the next phase of Gibraltar’s economic growth.’
