Joseph Muscat has the unenviable record of being able to united the whole country against him for his decision to grant virgin land to be developed into a university in Marsascala, Nationalist Prty leader Simon Busuttil said today.

Speaking in Balzan, Dr Busuttil said the PN, the Church, environmental organisations, hunters’ associations, civil society, employers and even government MPs were all against the idea to use land in an outside development zone for this project.

“We have nothing against a new university,” he said, “but there are alternative sites where this could be built.”

Dr Muscat is still in time to change his mind but, if he doesn’t, the PN will act as shield to protect the environment and the interests of the people.

The PN’s force is not violence, threats and insults. Its force is the voice of reason, and it will be doing its utmost to prevent that the land earmarked for such a project is raped.

By taking such a position, the PN knows that it will be insulted and threatened, in the same way that Labour MP Marlene Farrugia, who has spoken out against the project, has already become a target for saying that in Parliament she will be voting against the granting of the land in Marsascala to be developed.

It is not true that under a Labour government people can disagree and still work with Labour, Dr Busuttil said, making reference to Joseph Muscat’s pre-electoral pledge.

Dr Farrugia had attended the opening ceremony of the new Parliament with flowers, but it is clear that no flowers grow in Parliament with Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister. “He is throwing out thorns,” Dr Busuttil said.

Dr Farrugia has been insulted for her stand by another Labour MP, Luciano Busuttil, who has a part-time chairmanship costing the country €45,000 a year and a full-time driver to see to his needs, Dr Busuttil added.

He urged his listeners not to believe that PN administrations did nothing for the south of Malta, mentioning in particular the MCAST at Kordin, the Vittoriosa waterfront, the Marsascala family park and Smart City as prime examples of investment in the south of the country.

“We are against the university project for environmental reasons,” he said. The land that is earmarked for the project is agricultural land that has scientific and ecological importance, and has all the criteria possible for it not to be touched.

Joseph Muscat boasted of taking just one minute to convince the Jordanian investor to take on the project. But this only happened because the Prime Minister gave him all he wanted and will allow him to do what he likes, Dr Busuttil said. “One has to be without a conscience to rape such land,” he added.

Dr Busuttil said that on the same day that he visited the site earmarked for the new university, the government sent three ministers to counter his argument, including the Environment Minister who, instead of protecting the environment, gave the project his blessing.

One of the alternatives proposed by the Nationalist Party was the petroleum division in Birzebbuga. But the government turned it down because it said it will take more than two years to clean up the area. Dr Muscat said that the government was not able to build a new power station in two years, as it had promised, but it is incredible that it says it cannot clean up a site in two years.

Dr Busuttil expressed his disappointment that it was the Malta Environment and Planning Authority that had identified the area for the new development. Instead of protecting the environment, it became an instrument in Joseph Muscat’s hands for the project to go ahead. “We have lost all confidence in Mepa,” Dr Busuttil said.

Such a project sends out the wrong message that all areas in the countryside are no longer protected, Dr Busuttil said.