A group of well-intentioned environmental NGOs is holding an activity at Zonqor Point this evening with a view to highlighting the natural beauty of the area before the concrete is laid and buildings are erected in what was a protected Outside Development Zone.
But while the NGOs are at it, perhaps some of the more heritage-minded NGOs should organise a similar event down at Cospicua’s Dock One so as to draw attention to the heritage value of the centuries-old dockside buildings, built by the Knights of Malta and by the British forces, which are also to be handed over to make way for the American University of Malta.
Strangely enough, when it came to surrendering Outside Development Zone land for the university’s campus, all hell broke loose among NGOs. But when the revised plans for splitting the campus between a mix of ODZ and non-ODZ land at Zonqor and the historical buildings on the Cospicua side of Dock One, no one seemed to bat an eyelid about this latter piece of the puzzle.
It would seem that since these ‘derelict’ buildings are considered to be no more than an eyesore blighting an otherwise wonderful project surrounding them, the wider and completed Dock One project, few have even considered the intrinsic heritage value of this unique strip of buildings.
One has little doubt that these buildings will be expertly converted by the new university’s developers and that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority will ensure the conservation of this precious part of national patrimony.
But those who have raised an eyebrow to the proposed reuse of this stretch of buildings are very few and far between. After all, similar rows of dock-side buildings have been restored in the surrounding Grand Harbour area – such as those along the Valletta Waterfront and the Vittoriosa’s Grand Harbour Marina.
Given those outstanding projects, many are under the impression that this new development is simply a matter of par for the course. There is, however, one major difference.
While the buildings along the Valletta and Vittoriosa waterfronts were leased out to private business concerns for commercial gain, those buildings were converted into restaurants, bars, shops and the like – premises that the public at large can enter and appreciate, almost at will.
The problem with the Cospicua dockside buildings is that they will effectively be removed from public access, they will become an academic institution and academic institutions are not in the habit of allowing free public access. The Zonqor portion of the campus will most likely be accessible since there appears to be open areas, but not so with the rather confined campus area at Dock One.
A front-page story in today’s issue highlights the measly rental income payments the state is to receive from the university’s developers. At an average of €4.88 per square metre for 18,000 square metres of pristine Outside Development Zone land with glorious sea views and 10,800 square metres of historical buildings (plus 13,000 square metres of non-ODZS land), one has to seriously consider why we need a private university so badly and why that university has to occupy such choice locations.
Again, this is a purely private business venture and so many people out there are, quite rightly, asking why the government has bent over backwards to accommodate the investors, especially when all signs are that this policy will come back to haunt the party in government in the future.
Momentarily setting aside the way the government is extolling the economic input that the university will have on the nation, it is difficult to see how the project is in the national interest, at least to the extent that the government has made it to appear.
In year one, according to the government’s own projections, there will be four Maltese students on scholarships compared with a student body of 120. By its 10th year of operations, those numbers will have grown to 120 and 4,000 respectively. In terms of academic staff – where there are unique employment opportunities for Maltese nationals not to be found in other large projects – in the university’s first year there will be three Maltese academic staff, out of a total teaching staff of six. Again, those numbers will grow by the 10th year of operations to 200 academic staff in total, 60 of which will be Maltese.
That aside, the government is banking on a strong trickledown effect from the university. The government’s projections show that direct expenditure in the Maltese economy will peak at €110.9 million during the 10 years of operation. The bulk of this will be made up of spending by students on college and residences at a projected €69.8 million, followed by general living expenses totalling €27.2 million and spending by visitors totalling €13.8 million.
All this will, however, depend on the success of the university itself, and here the government is taking quite a gamble that the project will be a resounding success in the years to come. But then again, no government seems to ever look beyond its five-year term and as long as the project appears to work on paper, most governments figure that if things go lopsided in a future legislature, they will cross those bridges when they come to them.
There is a huge trade-off of precious publics assets happening here and at the very least it is hoped that the government’s gamble will pay off at the end of the day and that the great economic rewards that the government has promised from the American University of Malta will come to fruition.
But even if they do, we must still ask ourselves whether that reward justifies the sacrifice of so many thousands of metres of this small country’s precious built and natural heritage.