Muscat descends on Marsascala for on-site briefing by AUM project architects

Prime Minister calls on Jerma investors to ‘get their act together’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with architect Ray Demicoli
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with architect Ray Demicoli
Joseph Muscat urges Jerma investors 'to get their act together'

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning visited Marsascala for an on-site briefing by architects working on the development of the American University of Malta campus at Zonqor Point.

The Zonqor project is being led by architect Ray Demicoli.

Originally set to take over 90,000 square metres of ODZ land, the new plans will see the campus split in two. The campus in Zonqor will be spread over 31,000 square metres, 18,000 of which will be on land in an outside development zone.

Zonqor Point as seen from Marsascala
Zonqor Point as seen from Marsascala

Speaking of the benefits of the development of the two campuses, Muscat referred to an economic impact assessment which forecasts a €47.9 million contribution over the first 10-year period of activity, peaking at €84.9 million in the tenth year of activity.

But Muscat also took the occasion to call on the owners of the previous Jerma Hotel site “to get their act together”.

In May, MaltaToday reported that the owners, Peter and Geoffrey Montebello, were seeking to redevelop the former hotel site through the development of residential units, a five-star hotel and a yacht marina. The plans were still at their preliminary stages, although hampered by precautionary warrant in court to stop the sale of the Jerma Palace Hotel and the surrounding land.

“I urge the Jerma investors to get their act together: the government is doing its part to regenerate the area and it’s now time for the private investors to rehabilitate the site. The situation is no longer acceptable and I expect them to come up with a sustainable project,” Muscat said.

He also took the opportunity to reassure the Malta Developers Association that the AUM project will be solely for the purpose of a university and not a residential or commercial project.

Describing the fresh AUM plans as a “just solution which led to a better result and a double win for the south”, the Prime Minister reiterated that the Zonqor campus could have been built within development zone, causing “irreparable ecological and environmental damage to the foreshore”.

“Going for 18,000 square metres of abandoned agricultural land in ODZ was the better option. The land is publicly owned and less than four agricultural leasing agreements will be affected,” he said.

Muscat said that the previous administration had earmarked 25 tumoli of lands on the foreshore for the construction of a marine hatchery; he went on to explain that 18,000 square metres of land were equivalent to fortifications spread over four areas where the necessary infrastructure to take make use of the forts would have taken over 16,000 square metres of virgin land.

SIA looks into impact of campus development in Zonqor

A social impact assessment of the AUM campus at Marsascala drafted by Marvin Formosa and Joe Gerada concluded that the people interviewed were generally in favour of the development, whilst seeking assurance that Marsascala’s “family-friendly character” would not be marred.

Formosa and Gerada wrote that one key issue was the need to keep a balance between the interests of residents and business operators: “The general feeling is that the authorities might appear impotent when faced with the business community’s financial might and, if left unchecked, can roll over the interests of the community and reduced their well being instead of improving it.”

At the same time, stakeholders and residents welcomed government’s possible ability implement possible mitigation strategies – such as traffic management and durable drainage system – which safeguard everyone’s interests.

Carrying out the SIA turned out to be more difficulty than initially envisaged, with Formosa and Gerada arguing that the project had been deeply politicised resulting in interviewees feeling “uneasy” and requesting “unreserved anonymity”.

Many spoke of the “much-needed financial capital injection in business operations in Marsascala, improve the rental market, and even raise the worth of edifices in Marsascala and adjoining localities” – a sentiment mostly shared by businesses in the catering and entertainment industries which lament that customers are in short supply in months other than the summer season, and who wish for customers with higher spending power.

“Many advocated the government to insist that the new University invests both energy and money in meeting its Corporate Social Responsibility such as bursaries to students in Marsascala and adjoining localities,” Gerada and Formosa said.

“In short for many informants, the American University of Malta may be the catalyst that will bring the renaissance that is much needed in the South.”

On the other hand, fieldwork uncovered key concerns on behalf of residents about possible negative implications if the American University of Malta opens a campus in Marsascala: (i) probable increase in traffic; (ii) possible decrease in parking facilities; (iii) chance that the increase in the number of students would transform Marsacala in a ‘Paceville of the South’; (iv) plausible rise in housing renting prices that would effect negatively prospective tenants in low-income brackets; (v) a risk that the present drainage system will not keep up with the projected increase of students in the locality, (vi) a concern that any new roads constructed for the project shall require the expropriation of agricultural land which many expressed a wish to keep to a bare minimum; and (vii) and unease that the current road infrastructure is inadequate to support the heavy vehicles that shall need to access the site during construction which shall cause inconvenience to the residents.