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The contentious refugee village in Ħal Far is getting a complete makeover as new prefabricated homes will replace the white tents synonymous with the open centre.

More than 60 prefabricated units have been brought over to furnish the Ħal Far open centre housing 240 people. Another 36 units will be installed in the other centres.

The project cost nearly €900,000, with the European Refugee Fund forking out 80 per cent of the bill, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said.

Installation of the prefabricated units started on Monday and will take about three weeks.

The Ħal Far centre was opened in 2007 when the other centres could no longer accommodate the rising number of refugees. It started off with three tents and ended up with 45. This earned it the name Tent City and, over the years, attracted the criticism of humanitarian organisations that complained of inhumane conditions.

The new prefabricated units will be replacing the tents dotting the centre and old mobile homes provided by the Italian government, dating back to the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici described this project as a “milestone” and an act of solidarity with refugees who were either waiting to be relocated or repatriated. To date, about 1,000 refugees have been repatriated and 1,500 have been relocated.

In the meantime, the search is still on for two migrants who escaped from the Ħal Far detention centre on Wednesday night.

Members of the Detention Service and the police were yesterday still looking for the two Nigerian men, who, sources said, had been transferred to Ħal Far from Safi to be interviewed ahead of their deportation once their application for refugee status was refused.

Another migrant who also tried to escape was caught.

Thirty-five migrants were returned to Ghana last week.