In a statement Partit Demokratiku notes that the American University of Malta (AUM) have applied for an extension of their site at Dock No. 1 (PA/05889/17) when they can barely fill a garage with the number of students they have. This application requires the addition of a further three stories on the old police station. "We fully support Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar's concerns that there would be irreversible change of the city scape and, like them, Partit Demokratiku must ask why would there be the need?"

PD said that AUM statement dismisses all its current full time academic staff. This is not surprising.

PD asks is both AUM and the government are trying to find a way out of the difficult situation of justifying the development of Zonqor point when prima facie there is absolutely no need to.

PD reiterates its position that the National Commission for Higher Education (NCFHE) should revoke the tertiary education license granted to the American University of Malta.

"It is difficult to envisage that AUM will ever provide the courses promised let alone increase our economic growth by 85 million euro.  The concept of increasing pluralism in the tertiary educational sector is a good one but Malta also has a reputation to safeguard if higher education is to thrive as one of its platforms of economic growth. The government needs to review its plans for our prestigious educational sector as its electoral manifesto promise has not been upheld."

PD said that one of the primary issues in Malta is traffic congestion between the north and south. The Dock No. 1 site has been developed as an academic campus. The Higher Secondary at Naxxar is at full capacity, and one of the main problems it faces is that students from the south find it increasingly difficult to arrive on campus on time in the morning, with the consequence that they either miss their first lecture or eventually completely drop out of the education system.

This government is constantly harping on about how it wants to develop the south and narrow the gap between it and the north of Malta. How about doing something pragmatic and realistic... develop the Dock No. 1 site into a southern campus for the Higher Secondary. Reduce the North-South congestion on our roads via Marsa. Narrow the disadvantage gap between students from the north and south. Allow the influx of hundreds of students and staff, not 15, into Cottonera to generate a multiplier effect on businesses in the area. Show that this government is really working for the good of the nation, and not for the good of the few.

The regeneration of Cottonera and the shift of economic activity to the South will not come about by white elephant projects fuelled by dubious foreign investment. PD firmly believes that this can be done by using the resources we have and by investing in realistic doable projects that have been thoroughly marketed and researched. PD will be four square behind any such initiative.