Double the sports villages for Malta

A planned new sports village in Marsa was launched yesterday to join the €200 million White Rocks complex which is still on track, according to the Parliamentary for Sports Clyde Puli.

A large area of Marsa – 750,000 square metres – is already devoted to sport, with a golf course, a racecourse, an athletics track, polo pitch, a private tennis club and a tract of turf pitches.

A call for expressions of interest issued yesterday looks towards developing the loosely connected area into a privately run sports village with a sporting and a commercial component.

The latter, which would include an accommodation complex, would fund the running costs of the various sports facilities on site.

The outline plan for the area has already been cleared with the planning authority and 58,473 square metres – or 7.2 per cent of the footprint – can be built upon.

The facilities, according to Mr Puli, would still be made available to the clubs and athletes that use them for the same “ridiculously subsidised” prices the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport already charges clubs using the facilities.

Among the requirements the government has for the new complex is a freely accessible two kilometre track for walking, jogging and cycling as well as a golf academy, which would see the current golf course being extended into Għammieri, making it a viable Championship Course.

The investors, on the other hand, would be able to use the premises in the hours which the KMS has not booked it for other commercial activities, which would make the enterprise financially sustainable, Mr Puli said.

However, the Marsa Sports Village – which will span over 800,000 square metres – does not spell the end of the White Rocks Sports and Leisure Village outside Pembroke.

“This has nothing to do with White Rocks,” Mr Puli said, adding that the other complex would be catering for indoor sports which would not be present in Marsa.

“Some time ago we had announced we were negotiating on certain parameters. Only yesterday, some of my staff were in talks with White Rocks, so negotiations are still ongoing, we’re still moving them ahead, but my first interest is the country’s, not investors’, so unless I’m absolutely sure that this meets the needs of the country’s sporting community, I will not be comfortable in taking this to Parliament,” Mr Puli said, adding that he was “optimistic” about the issue.

Entrepreneur Paul Abela, who had unsuccessfully bid to build real estate on White Rocks, said the way things were dragging on signalled that the project wouldn’t happen.

He said that things were only done properly this time round, with a public call for expressions of interest, in contrast to the White Rocks deal that was brokered behind closed doors.

The call for applications closes on September 27, after which the applicants and applications will be vetted and a call for tenders issued. The winning party must finish the sports facilities two years after being given the permit, and the rest of the village within four years. The maximum period of lease is 65 years.

Details such as where certain facilities will be sited, such as the accommodation complex, are still fluid as the government is going to see what the applicants propose.