Libyan school in Ta’ Giorni applies for mosque and apartment block

Mosque will include a turret and will be located next to a proposed apartment block and the existing school

A two-storey mosque with a turret and a five-storey residential block consisting of 40 apartments are being proposed at the Libyan school in Ta’ Giorni
A two-storey mosque with a turret and a five-storey residential block consisting of 40 apartments are being proposed at the Libyan school in Ta’ Giorni

A two-storey mosque with a turret and a five-storey residential block consisting of 40 apartments are being proposed at the Libyan school in Ta’ Giorni.

The site is owned by the Libyan Higher Vocational Institute after the Libyan government bought the land in 1976.

In 2013, a new agreement was signed with the Maltese government, removing the restriction that the institute could host only Libyan students, with the Libyans promising a €22.4 million investment to cater for international students.

The proposed mosque and the residential block were presented in two separate planning applications.

A third planning application has also been presented to change the use of the existing school from a boarding facility to a non-residential educational facility. All three applications have been submitted by the Libyan Higher Vocational Institute.

The new residential block is proposed on 1,017sq.m, which currently forms part of the school grounds.

According to the application, the development will entail the uprooting of eight carob trees.

The mosque is proposed on 423sq.m, which also forms part of the school grounds but does not include any existing trees. The third application, which retains the existing use of the building as a school removes the residential requirement.

Malta already has a mosque and Islamic centre in Paola, whose first stone was laid by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1978.

The mosque is run by the Islamic Call Society. However, the need for a second mosque has been pressing for the past few years, as the number of Muslims, both foreign and Maltese, has grown.

Another planning application for a mosque on a plot of land in Luqa’s industrial estate has been pending for years.

The land was offered to Islamic Solidarity Malta, which does not fall under the authority of the Paola mosque, by the government, instead of a temporary site of worship at L’Ospizio in Floriana.