Sustainability forum says American university selection processes 'seriously flawed'

The national independent forum for sustainability (NIFS) has retained its opposition to the 'American University of Malta' project at Zonqor point.

Reacting to the government’s decision to split the campus into two; with one part moving to Dock 1 in Cospicua and the other staying at Zonqor point, the forum said that it “still includes a substantial building footprint at Zonqor.”

“This extends into land that is not only designated as Outside Development Zone, but also designated as a National Park in the South Malta Local Plan,” the group added in a statement.

While recognising the efforts being made made to reduce the negative impacts of the earlier proposals, NIFS said that it considered site assessment and selection processes to be “seriously flawed.”

“The proposal to build part of the proposed complex at Zonqor Point in an ODZ area, which is also designated in the South Malta Local Plan as a National Park, has no clear basis in the 'Preliminary Alternative Sites Evaluation Report' published last week,” the statement reads.

“Furthermore, such a proposal is in direct conflict with the site assessment criteria of the same report, particularly criterion 3, which was that ‘Site cannot be located in a protected area’”, it added.

The group also said that it was concerned about the visual impact of the new proposal on the coastline, and in a document published in June 2015( http://issuu.com/nifsmalta/docs/nifs_-_campus_alternative_sites_in_), it had  emphasized the importance of the issue of visual integrity.

"The configuration of the area of the National Park (between Xgħajra, Żonqor, and Fort San Leonardo forms a visual envelope which is almost entirely free of visual intrusions caused by urbanization. No new constructions outside existing Development Zone boundaries should be contemplated within this viewshed,” it had said in the document.

NIFS added that the impact assessment and site selection studies published to date, have failed to note that the revised proposal for Zonqor Point will have a severe and enduring visual impact on a large extent of the designated national park.

The forum also explained that it would be able to form an opinion on the decision to put part of the campus at Dock no. 1 in Cospicua when more information was made available on the proposal and its impacts.

NIFS also noted that two of its suggestions, to  accommodate the proposed university site on more than one site and to use vacant historic buildings, had in fact been used;

“We would hope that any utilisation would respect sustainable cultural heritage and that any designs are within the expected rules and practices of conservation and sensible reutilization,” the statement reads.

“We also expect that the communities in question (in this case, Cospicua,Vittoriosa and Senglea) will now be engaged in a genuine consultation process on the proposed utilisation of the site, with all plans discussed with them in detail before commitments are made, and that they are not simply ignored as a bystander.”