West view reclamation set for inner harbour

A new affordable homes development will be built in the within the northern half of the inner harbour in front of Harbour Views Promenade, the Gibraltar Government has confirmed.

Heads of Terms, a precursor to a final agreement, has been signed with TNG Global Foundation to create a new land reclamation area.

The development was announced by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo last night during his New Year message and the new area of land for development has been conceptually illustrated in a design provided by the Government today.

In his message Mr Picardo said that, in the coming months, he would make further announcements about new homes to be built under Government schemes, including for rental.

This agreement with TNG Global will see an area of land of approximately 47,000 square metres (almost half the Eastside reclamation) created along the front of the westside reclamation.

"This reclamation, in keeping with the original designs for Europort in the 1980's, has been designed to preserve the area of the swimming pavilion and the existing childrens' park will also be retained and expanded," the Government said.

"This land will be created at no cost to the Government, with the cost being met by TNG Global Foundation, in exchange for part of the reclamation."

"The Government keeps the larger proportion of the reclamation to meet its objective of building the next programme of affordable housing estates on it."

It is expected that the project will start within the next few months subject to it having cleared the planning process by then.

“I am delighted to announce this agreement with TNG Global Foundation," Mr Picardo said.

"It follows months of work as the Government grapples with how to meet the ever-increasing demand for housing, whilst seeking to constrain costs."

"The land reclamation initiative is an integral part of a long-standing process that has significantly benefited our community by providing housing for countless residents over many decades."

"While we recognise that this may have impacted views for some, as it has for others in the past, this iterative approach to reclamation remains critical in addressing the ever-growing housing needs of our community. We have no choice but to do this to continue to properly house our people."

"Gibraltar needs to continue to expand to house its own people and none of us should be selfish in this respect, as the people of, for example, Varyl Begg were not selfish when the reclamation was developed in front of them.”