Providing excellent facilities for all

I refer to Noel Muscat's letter (September 12) in which he expressed his regret that the populations in the centre of the country are treated differently than in the south when it comes to "new schools, plans for new school, improvements to existing schools etc." We beg to differ from this point of view.

Various refurbishment projects in localities situated in the centre and north of the country have been carried out during the past few years. In fact more than Lm8.2 million have been invested in the following localities:

Mellieha, Hamrun, Msida, St Andrews, St Paul's Bay, Birkirkara, St Julians, Attard, Gharghur, Gzira, Mgarr, Mtarfa, Naxxar, Pietà, San Gwann, Sliema, Sta Venera, Mriehel, Mosta and particularly in the case of Pembroke, substantial works have been carried out on the San Miguel Special School and the Sir Adrian Dingli Girls' Junior Lyceum which has all but been re-built to the same standards of the "new, ultra-modern and luxurious St Benedict School in Kirkop".

Mr Muscat also states that the Sliema, St Julians, Swieqi and Pembroke areas are in desperate need of indoor sport facilities. However, one of the three existing sport complexes on the island (the other two are in Gozo and Cottonera respectively) is located in tal-Qroqq which is surely close enough to serve these areas. In the tal-Qroqq complex one not only finds a large indoor multi-purpose sport hall but also the national pool, a fully equipped gym and squash courts.

Furthermore, the Education Division is in the process of finalising the new extension of the Naxxar Upper Higher Secondary School and is also in the process of issuing a tender for the construction of a new boys' secondary school in Zokrija, Mosta. The expected investment on these projects amounts to Lm500,000 and Lm3.5 million respectively. In addition the tender for the construction of the new pembroke primary school, which is expected to cost Lm1.8 million, is to be published shortly.