Alternattiva this morning welcomed plans for the setting up of an American university in the south of Malta, but insisted that it should not be built on virgin land outside development zones.

Spokesman Carmel Cacopardo said it appeared that the campus would be built on an ODZ over 20 hectares between Xaghjra and Zonqor Point in Marsascala close to the waterpolo pool. Land would also need to be taken up for roads.

Malta, he told a press conference, should not sacrifice so much virgin land for short term gain.

Party chairman Arnold Cassola said the new campus should be set up in an area in the south which would be enhanced, rather than taking up virgin land. 

This is not the first time that the area has been earmarked for development. The Sunday Times of Malta reported last November that a development brief for the “regeneration of the south” had proposed the building of three hotels in the same area.

The new campus will be slightly more inland.

The development brief prepared by the government privatisation unit on the request of the chairman of the Consultative Council for the South, Labour MP Silvio Parnis.

GOVERNMENT DENIES PROJECT WILL TAKE UP SO MUCH LAND

In a reaction, the government said the project will take up half the amount of land mentioned by the AD officials and actual building would  be far smaller, with much of the site remaining open. The site, it said, was mostly abandoned agricultural land.

The government would ensure that the coastal area of scientific importance would not be affected, as far as possible.

Informal consultations are under way before the project is formally announced, the government added. Formal public consultation would then be held as required by law, followed by an environment impact assessment.

The government also pointed out, as announced by the prime minister yesterday, that a nature park is being set up in the south of Malta.