The Tal-Qroqq swimming pool will be reopening for public use on Saturday after some extensive maintenance works during the past few months have been completed.

Dr Louis Galea, Minister for Education, also responsible for Sport, toured the pool yesterday morning and appeared to be very satisfied with the works done in this first phase. The expense in refurbishing the dressing rooms, the shower and toilet facilities, even for disabled persons, as well as some structural works which had to be undertaken in the basement, that is, the plant room, had cost around Lm77,000.

He said later the second phase, including works on the deck and on the spring boards, was to start soon.

The pool had been closed for some months, during which period members, who total over 1,000 in all, could make use of the heated pool of the Neptunes Waterpolo and Swimming Club at Balluta Bay.

Mr George Whelpdale, manager at the Pool, said the pool is open from 5.30am till 10pm and is used by members of the national swimming team, waterpolo clubs, the general public and schoolchildren. He also added that there were also some bookings by foreign clubs and individuals to hold training camps in Malta as from next Saturday.

David Xuereb, who together with Claire Bezzina and Ramon Fenech, were the responsible architects for this first phase of the project, said such maintenance work had become necessary as there were a lot of underground water leakages which had effected the basement.

The pool had been built in 1992 and completed in 1993, in time for the Games for European Small Nations.