The government is empowered to expropriate private land to site a new university, even if it is a private business concern, according to lawyers with years of experience in land acquisition

However, they warned such a move could be legally challenged and could mean more compensation from the public purse.

Speaking to Times of Malta yesterday, Alternattiva Demokratika’s deputy chairman, Carmelo Cacopardo, an architect by profession, raised doubts on whether the government could take private land to pass on to the proposed American University of Malta investors to build its campus on virgin land in Marsascala.

“In my opinion, the government cannot expropriate because there is no public purpose,” he said. “This is not a university but a private business concern. Are we going to expropriate private land for every businessman that wants to set up shop in Malta?” he asked.

However, legal practitioners said the ‘public purpose’ definition in the law was so wide-ranging that it gave the right to the government to expropriate the land. “The definition of public purpose in the law is vast in its interpretation. It definitely gives the right to the government to take over this land even to give it to private investors,” a leading lawyer said. “Until a few years ago, the public purpose clause could not even be challenged. At least nowadays, this is possible, even though I doubt whether this will be the case,” he added.

Agreeing in principle, a senior lawyer said the only issue he saw possible in this case was a challenge on the level of compensation to be given to the landowners. “If and when an offer is made, the private owners have a right to challenge the compensation and ask for more. Still, they cannot stop the government from taking over the land. The dispute will only be on compensation,” the lawyer noted.

“Eventually, the sum involved may be much higher than the €500,000 the government is saying it would like to offer the private landowners,” he said.

Following the heads of agreement signed between the government and Jordanian investors Sedeen Group last week, the government said that about 90,000 square metres of ODZ land in Marsascala would be needed for the project.

Ninety per cent of the land in question is government owned and the rest belongs to various individuals linked to former disgraced Labour minister Lorry Sant.

The government has already said is dealing with the private owners to reach an agreement on compensation. They were warned to “take it or leave it”, because the government can opt to expropriate the land in the public interest.

Although at first it appeared that the Chicago-based De Paul University was behind the project, it later transpired that the investor was the Sadeen Group and De Paul will not be making any investment in the Maltese campus.

De Paul will not issue any degrees . It was contracted to develop curriculum materials for 10 programmes, and the new university will need its own accreditation.

In order to compensate for taking a large tract of virgin land for the development, the government has promised to develop a national natural park adjacent to the university campus.