President signs acquisition deeds for Marsaskala pool at Zonqor

The President of the Republic has signed declarations of acquisition for the land occupied by the swimming pool complex at Zonqor Point, in Marsascala, that will now be considered as property of the government.

Under the Land Acquisition Ordinance, the swimming pool complex is to be ‘returned’ to the government after it was devolved for use as a national swimming pool.

The total value of the land, under an estimate carried out back in 2005 before the publication of the local plan for the south, is of some €1.3 million.

The area in question will be at the heart of a controversial private university that the Labour government has unilaterally awarded to Jordanian construction firm Sadeen, to create a ‘American University of Malta’.

The acquisitions were published in the government gazzette, just before Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the resignation of his parliamentary secretary for lands, Michael Falzon. While announcing he was placing the Lands Department under a 'lock-down' pending a reform in operations, national projects will be unaffected by the process.

The institution is not yet accredited, and the National Commission for Higher Education is reviewing its application to be licensed as a higher education institution, despite being branded as a university.

The AUM project will be split over two campuses, one in Bormla’s Dock No. 1 and the rest at Zonqor, after the government had to scale back the project in the face of public outrage that 90,000 square metres of land designated as a natural park, would be granted to the private developer.

The lands being requisitioned or expropriated against compensation are:

• A 7,230 square metre plot – namely the Marsascala swimming pool complex – valued at over €58,000; the surrounding lands are considered as agricultural lands, moors and have been declared for public purpose as part of the swimming sports complex.
• The valuation of the property is that made in 2005 before the regulatory plan of the south of Malta was published in 2006;
• A plot of land measuring about 1,383 square metres, abutting the swimming pool complex that has been valued at €174,000;
• A plot of land of 80 square metres, which forms part of the swimming pool complex’s contour, valued at €34,940;
• A plot of land measuring 3,620 square metres, forming the cliff-edge of the outer part of the swimming pool, valued at €815,280;
• A plot of land measuring about 444.4 square metres, valued at €5,823, located in the same area
• A plot of 823 square metres valued at €10,482, which represents the public pathway running along the coast, from the swimming pool into the area known as Zonqor.
• A plot of land measuring about 930.7 square metres, valued at €12,811, forming part of the road circling the swimming pool complex from the south as it leads into Marsascala.