Lecturers and students at the Institute of Tourism Studies say they have been “left in complete darkness” as to what will happen in the immediate future, the Times of Malta is informed.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Ministry would not give details on when the campus in Pembroke will be closed to make way for a massive tourism and residential project undertaken by DB San Gorg Property Ltd, the owners of the Sea Bank Group.
Announcing plans for the building of a new ITS at SmartCity, in Xgħajra, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis had said the campus was expected to be inaugurated in 2019.
“The planning phase for the development of the new ITS in SmartCity is at an advanced stage. Once this phase is completed, detailed information on the construction and the eventual move will be provided,” a ministry spokeswoman said.
READ: Price tag for new ITS campus rises to €75 million
Questions on whether the present campus would have to move to temporary premises to make way for work on the DB group project to start were not answered by the time of writing.
Lecturers told this newspaper it was not known what would be happening until 2019. “Our institute cannot be easily transferred onto a temporary site as in other cases.
However, this seems to be the biggest state secret at the Tourism Ministry
“We have specialised kitchens and laboratories that are part and parcel of our courses. Whenever we ask what will be happening to us in the meantime we are met with blank replies,” a senior lecturer said.
“All we need to know is whether our campus in Pembroke will be fully operational until the new campus in SmartCity is up and running. However, this seems to be the biggest state secret at the Tourism Ministry,” another lecturer complained.
Students complained that the decision to move the campus to SmartCity was taken without any consultation. “The SmartCity area is definitely not the right one for students and no one wants to go there. It’s out of the way for many and not close to Malta’s main touristic hubs. However, it seems the government is adamant to fill SmartCity with government entities at our expense,” a student studying to become a chef said.
“This uncertainty is of great concern to us because, logistically, a move to SmartCity will create many problems, particularly transport-wise. However, every time we speak to the ITS administration they tell us that they don’t know anything yet,” another student noted.
The government announced last week it would be leasing the ITS site for 99 years to the DB Group – owners of the Seabank Hotel in Mellieħa – to turn it into three hotels and luxury residential apartments for sale.
The government said DB Group would be paying €60 million for 24,000 square metres of prime location. However, an exercise by this newspaper indicated that only a premium of €15 million spread over eight years would, in fact, be paid. The rest would come from those buying the property and only if they eventually decide to redeem the ground rent, which is not compulsory.
Developers have complained the deal meant the DB Group acquired the prime site on the cheap and was getting an advantage over other developers in the area.
No replies were forthcoming when the government was asked whether the DB Group’s project would only start in 2019, when the ITS vacated its campus.
According to Dr Zammit Lewis, the new campus will cost €75 million.