No vote taken by Marsaskala council on Sadeen ‘gift’

Marsaskala’s Labour mayor, Mario Calleja, presented a deal he struck with the developers of the American University of Malta to his fellow councillors as a fait accompli and no vote was taken over the arrangement.  

At the end of a gruelling council meeting this week, Calleja announced that Sadeen Group promised to build new premises for the local council once it gets the go ahead to build the university campus on ODZ land in Zonqor, Marsaskala.

The proposed use of ODZ land for the campus has sparked wide protests by environmental groups in the country, and even spawned the birth of a new grouping, Front Harsien ODZ.

MaltaToday is informed that none of the councillors present knew about the deal and Calleja made the announcement in the absence of deputy mayor Desiree Attard, a vocal critic of the project. 

Attard, a Labour councillor who is at the forefront of the campaign against the destruction of ODZ land in Zonqor, landed in Malta just hours before the meeting and had informed the council secretary that she would not be attending. 

During the meeting Calleja – who is among the project’s most vociferous supporters – announced the deal, saying he had Sadeen Group’s permission to make the agreement public.

In comments to The Times, Calleja said: “They are contractors. Once they’re building the university, they’ll send some people here to build the council’s premises.”

Earlier this year, the mayor threatened to sue the blogger and author of theatrical satire Sibna z-Zejt, Wayne Flask, who asked whether Calleja had a personal interest in the project, seeing that the mayor urged people to attend a counter-protest at Zonqor in support of the private university and the government. 

PN councillor and Front Harsien ODZ activist Charlot Cassar dubbed the deal as “ridiculous”, and said it risked compromising the local council. 

Calleja admitted to meeting Sadeen Group’s CEO before the council meeting to ask for “help in kind”, including the building of new premises. 

“I will take what I can. Otherwise, how are we going to build our new premises without the funds? We did what everyone else would do. There’s nothing wrong with this,” Calleja said. 

Sadeen will also construct two new public conveniences and complete works on Triq il-Blajjiet, as well as street lighting works.

Greens call for investigation 

Alternattiva Demokratika called for an investigation into Calleja’s “unethical” deal with Sadeen and said the “gifts will place the local council in an awkward position, such that it will have considerable difficulty in standing up for the rights of Marsaskala residents.”

AD deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that the mayor should be investigated by the Local Governance Board on unethical behaviour according to local council regulations. 

He said Calleja does not have a right to “place the local council which he leads in such an awkward position.”

Opposition MP David Agius said the deal is typical of “the corruption that has become institutionalised under Joseph Muscat”. 

He said the situation has become so grave that somebody who is supposed to represent the residents “is actually boasting about selling himself out.”   

The government had originally intended to build the private university on 90,000 square metres of land lying in an outside development zone at Zonqor Point. Following harsh criticism and a 3,000-strong protest, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that the university would be divided in two, with a reduced site at Zonqor and the rest of the campus housed at Dock 1 in Cospicua. 

The Zonqor site – taking up some of the area designated as a national nature park – will include three faculties and the dormitories, with the buildings rising to a maximum height of five storeys.

Before championing the private university project, which has not yet been granted a licence to operate, Calleja had informed the department of local government that Zonqor and other open spaces in Marsaskala “should be preserved in their current state.”

In 2014, the department for local government sent a memo to all councils asking for information on public and open spaces and how these could be improved.

On 7 January, 2015, Marsaskala council secretary Josef Grech submitted the council’s feedback in which it clearly stated that its only plans for Zonqor and nearby Munxar were for “central government to protect these zones.”

Despite the council’s demands to have Zonqor protected and kept in its current state, the council narrowly voted in favour of the proposed university project with Attard voting against.