Environmental organisations this morning expressed concern that while that while the Prime Minister has announced that it might be possible to split the proposed AUM campus on different sites, the Jordanian investors’ legal representative has denied this.

In a statement this morning, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth and Ramblers said they had each spoken to the Prime Minister on the matter, suggesting a number of fortifications as viable alternatives to building the new university on ODZ land.

But while the Prime Minister took some of these suggestions into consideration, he claimed that such projects would present problems of connectivity, vehicular access and basic infrastructure.

It was hoped, they said, that these were not excuses to mask the fact that agreement had already been reached on the Zonqor site.

 “We will continue to stress the suitability of using such sites for this project,” Martin Galea De Giovanni, of Friends of the Earth, said referring to Fort St Rocco, Fort San Salvatore and Fort Ricasoli as the three main fortifications proposed by the NGOs.

“Each of the three forts is very well connected. Fort San Salvatore is serviced by roads which already connect the public to St Edwards College and De La Salle College. Though Fort Ricasoli is presently earmarked for other uses, along with Fort St Rocco it is ideally located along Triq Santu Rokku, a large road currently in use for access to SmartCity, a great advantage since the university will start off at SmartCity while the new campus is being built.” All three forts were very close to one another, making transport via bicycle lanes and shuttle buses ideal, he said.

Ingram Bondin of Ramblers Association said “we are aware that there might be challenges in the restoration and conversion of these sites but we are sure that, given the high calibre of Maltese restoration architects and the creativity of the Maltese working in the field, these challenges can be overcome.”

The restoration of such sites would hugely benefit Malta’s cultural and historical heritage and would avoid the destruction of even more green spaces.

On the other hand, building the new University at the proposed ODZ site in Zonqor would create a larger logistical problem as it would likely require the building of new roads and infrastructure over arable land.

Astrid Vella of FAA highlighted the fact that the university was not the only major threat to Malta’s countryside as an application for two Church schools to be built in Għaxaq was only marginally smaller than the Zonqor case and would obliterate more than 77,000 square metres of agricultural land, including rubble walls and mature trees.

The NGOs appealed to the Church authorities to reconsider making use of this site for these schools to provide an example of how these environmental issues should be handled for the benefit of society.

If approved, the seven major projects in the pipeline could gobble up almost as much virgin countryside as the infamous rationalisation plans which the present government had opposed so vociferously in 2006, she said.

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