Chamber wants Sadeen to ‘neutralise’ green cost of Zonqor campus

The Chamber of Commerce has called on the government to oblige Sadeen to neutralise the environmental cost of their private university campus at Zonqor Point. 

In a statement, the Chamber said that the Jordanian construction firm should be obliged to use recycled materials in the Zonqor building, as well as other energy efficiency measures that would reduce the building’s carbon footprint on the environment.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced last week that the controversial ‘American University of Malta’ project will be split between two locations- Dock 1 in Cospicua and Zonqor Point. The Zonqor campus will incorporate 18,000 square metres of land outside development zones, a significant reduction from the 90,000 square metres of ODZ land that was originally proposed.

“We would have preferred the use of ODZ land to be avoided completely, with the project being located entirely in a retrofitted building or on land within an inside-scheme zone,” the Chamber said. “That said, however, we are not in favour of rigid or prescriptive policies that could distort a decision-making process that could strike a positive balance between socio-economic growth and environmental safeguards through sustainable development.”

While the Chamber said that the siting of the campus at Dock 1 will contribute to the economic and social regeneration of Cospicua, it warned that it cannot be expected to single-handedly solve all the area’s problems.

It also highlighted the lack of detail in the plans, with respect to the project brief and safeguards necessary to prohibit any change of use of the project.

“Such safeguards are rendered all the more necessary in view of the prime sites being committed,” it said.

The Chamber called on the government to develop a strategy that clearly identifies possible areas and locations to accommodate large-scale foreign investment projects that dovetails with existent local plans so as to ensure a holistic approach to planning.

MEPA, they said, should also establish a set of sustainable development standards for all projects, particularly for large-scale ones.