Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said that there was still time to save the green area in the limits of Marsascala which is being targeted for the development of the “American University of Malta” as he met University of Malta students for a consultation meeting this morning.
During the meeting, held with representatives of various student organisations, Dr Busuttil appealed for those opposed to the plans to create a common front, arguing that there was strength in unity and that there was still time to save the area from development.
The PN leader said that the party’s main opposition to the plans was due to environmental reasons, although he also emphasised that the party had other concerns about the project.
He said that by definition, areas outside the development zone should not host development that could be built elsewhere, and noted that the area being proposed for development is one of the few green areas left in the southern part of Malta.
Dr Busuttil said that while the PN favoured investment in education, it was adamant that such a development should be built in an alternative site, lamenting that an ODZ site was picked by the same institution – MEPA – that should protect the environment.
The area, he pointed out, included agricultural land, whose development threatened the livelihood of families. It also included areas of ecological and scientific importance and was close to the sea, he added, stressing that universities did not need to be on the seafront.
He said that while it was not the PN’s role to identify alternative sites, it was easy to identify other options, noting that the party has suggested the redevelopment of the former Petroleum Division site in Birżebbuġa, which would still ensure that the project takes place in the south of Malta.
But he noted that the proposal was immediately dismissed by the government, and that while PN councillors in Birżebbuġa proposed a motion requesting that the government should carry out a feasibility study of the site, only for this to be rejected on party lines.
“This begs the question… is the government really open to using an alternative site,” he asked.
But Dr Busuttil also noted that his party had other concerns, as there was little to indicate what sort of university was being planned.
He noted that the university was not actually American in spite of its name, and that the investor had no experience in education, but only in construction and hospitality.
‘Why are standards being lowered?’
In her own intervention, MEP and shadow minister for education Therese Comodini Cachia expressed her concerns at the revelation that a legal notice changing the requirements for institutions to be recognised as a university was published shortly before the agreement was revealed.
Yesterday’s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday had broken the news that the requirements academic institutions had to meet to be recognised as universities were being lowered.
Dr Comodini Cachia questioned why this was taking place, adding that if the law was being changed to accommodate different forms of educational institutions, this could have been done by introducing different categories, such as specialised institutions.
She also questioned why the government felt the need to give itself the authority to allow institutions to gain university status if this is seen to be “in the national interest.”
The MEP also questioned the lack of transparency and consultation involved, noting that the government only consulted with environmental NGOs on the eve of the agreement signing, and that this consultation was dismissed as a PR exercise by the NGOs themselves.
She expressed her concerns that there would not be a level playing field, and questioned whether the government was committed to continue to invest in the University of Malta.
(Pictures by James Bianchi)