The people behind the American University of Malta seem to have finally accepted the idea of having a split campus despite having previously insisted on having one single campus at Zonqor Point in Marsascala.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat confirmed on Sunday that part of the campus will still be built on the ODZ site, which has been the subject of heated debate over the previous months. It had earlier been revealed that the government was mulling the relocation of the project to the Cottonera area, with some believing that the whole project would be built near the Three Cities. That speculation was dismissed when Dr Muscat announced that Zonqor was still very much part of the government’s, and the Jordanian investors’ plans.
A lawyer who was previously speaking on behalf of the Sadeen Group, Kevin Deguara, had said on Xarabank earlier this year that the investors wanted the university to comprise a single campus. He had warned that, should this wish not be respected, the investors could be scared off and invest somewhere else. That position seems to have changed of late.
Replying to questions by The Malta Independent, a spokesperson for the Sadeen Group hinted that the split-campus plan has been accepted. “Over the past weeks, the Sadeen group has considered all options put forward by the government for the AUM project. As stated by the Prime Minister, the campus is to be split onto two sites, part of which will remain at Zonqor.” The spokesperson also said discussions were now in their “final stages.”
It is not yet known when works on the university will start and no detailed timeline has ever been issued. Hani Saleh, Chairman of the Sadeen Group, had told journalists back in May that the university was expected to take its first intake of students in Septermber 2016, temporarily at Smart City.
Zonqor Point farmers this week told this paper that they were deeply concerned as they have still heard nothing from the government. They explained how they have just renewed their land lease and have already started preparing for the winter crop but fear that their hard work could end up being a waste of time if the construction work starts before the harvest. Some of the farmers have spent their whole lives working the Zonqor fields which, in many cases, have been handed down from generation to the next.
The Opposition and several environmental NGOs have criticized the PM’s decision and accused him of being “absolutist” and “stubborn.” They have also pledged to step up the fight against the proposed development on virgin land. They say Dr Muscat is steamrolling over civil society despite the massive protest against the project back in June.
Government MP Marlene Farrugia questioned why the Prime Minister was adamant on building the university in Zonqor. “I am not surprised at the decision,” she said, “because from what I can decipher from the scraps of information I get from the statements and news, the take up of a patch of Zonqor Point land is pivotal for the materialisation of the entire project.
Why would the PM be insisting on the absolute necessity of a Zonqor appendage of the University, even before the conclusions and results of the studies and social impact assessments being carried out on other sites, are published. How does he know that alternative sites under consideration do not meet the necessary area required to render the project feasible, without consuming Zonqor land, if the studies are a work in progress? Or to put it differently, why did the PM never let go of the Zonqor University patch even when presented with countless viable alternatives? Methinks that it is possible that some Zonqor land is a prerequisite for the project to happen, though it seems possible that we have progressed from total uglification and destruction of Zonqor to locating a good part of the University in historical Cottonera, at least according to recent leaks.”