It always amazes me how people in Malta rush to conclusions. People who are greatly influenced by those whose biased and negative opinions overwhelm them – people who should listen and make their own judgements.
We have been overwhelmed by negative opinions on the new American university proposed for Marsascala. Nobody stops to think of positives, and there are many positives.
They say it’s in the wrong place. Then let us dump it in an industrial estate, or at St Luke’s Hospital, or maybe we can find an old fort to put it in. Why have it in an attractive place, close to a village, which would encourage students to want to come and enjoy their educational stay in our islands?
Has anybody asked to see the designs of this proposed new university? When they see them, I am sure they will find them aesthetically attractive, blending with their surroundings and something like the Danish Village in Mellieħa.
“I am sure that Maltese businessmen could have come up with €120,000,000 and done the same thing.” But they did not. It took a foreigner to realise the tremendous possibilities of a first-class educational establishment in a safe European country close to a catchment area of so many wealthy families looking for a good, safe place to educate their children.
This country needs businesses to come over and spend their money here
We should be so grateful to the previous, Nationalist administration, which strove so this would be such a fine place, where people can settle, work and study. The current administration is carrying on with the same policy and ideas.
We are so lucky to live in Malta at the present time. Let’s make the most of it. This university idea is so good it would have been crazy not to grab the opportunity firmly and help mould it into a financially viable project with an eye on long-term benefits. To do this, one has to keep costs down for the investors, if at all possible. This is another reason that the area chosen is so ideal.
It is crucial that this investment is a success and does not collapse because of excessive infrastructural costs.
The land chosen is the least cultivated in the whole area and, of course, is the closest to the village, so it will not be too far for students to find accommodation, eat and enjoy a good life.
It will also incorporate a huge national park rather than almost a wasteland, as it is today.
People who grumble at these types of new ventures must stop and think. Do they think it is easy to attract money-making businesses to Malta? Do they think people are queuing up to come and spend their money on our island? Well, I, for one, assume they are not and it takes an enormous amount of work to get investors over.
If 4,000 students study at the university, at least 3,000 will need outside accommodation, probably with host families or in rented flats. They have to live and look after themselves. If each one has €15,000 to do this, then as much as €60 million will be spent in the Marsascala area each year. This money does not go to the developers but to the Maltese people.
If I wanted to open a hotel in Malta, as a businessman I would not necessarily have to have experience in the hospitality industry. I would get an architect who could design a hotel and a designer to furnish it. I would then hire a good manager and administrator, who would employ staff. I would then open the hotel for business.
How different is such a scenario in relation to the American university project?
A business plan is a business plan. Properly qualified people would be quite able to do the correct job.
Another complaint is that the foreign businessmen are there to take Malta for a ride. Why is this? And anyway, there are ways and means of making sure this does not happen.
People who jump on the bandwagon to criticise projects such as this university project should realise just how much the country would benefit. Some people will criticise any project that does not fall within their personal agenda.
Of course, if potential investors who are lured to Malta are then scared away, this island will only stand to lose.
This country needs businesses to come over and spend their money here. We have no other source of income. If this does not happen, nobody should expect free hospitals, free medicine, cheap bus fares or the many other perks we have gotten used to.
I wouldn’t want stone-crushing plants in Marsacala or an oil refinery, but a place of learning that blends in with the surroundings and guarantees a huge national park and, at the same time, brings into an area of Malta large sums of money every year for the benefit of all is most welcome.
It is worth thinking about.