The American University’s campus in Cospicua should be handed over to the overflowing Higher Secondary School in Naxxar, the Democratic Party said yesterday.
In a statement, the PD reacted to news reports that the AUM had applied for an extension to its campus, saying that this was simply unnecessary.
The university, PD said, could “barely fill a garage with the number of students” it currently has. Instead, the party had a different proposal: the site should be used to ease pressure on the Naxxar Higher Secondary – which it said was running at full capacity.
Show it is really working for the good of the nation, and not for the good of the few
This, it said, would reduce the north-south congestion on the road network and narrow the “disadvantage gap” between students from the north and south.
Students hailing from the south of the island, the PD added, often found it difficult to get to the Naxxar campus on time for morning lectures and faced longer trips home after a long day of studying.
According to the PD, a southern campus of the State school for higher education would allow for the “influx of hundreds of students and staff, not just 15”, leading to a multiplier effect on businesses in the area.
The party urged the government to “show it is really working for the good of the nation, and not for the good of the few”.
PD said the regeneration of the area and the shift of economic activity to the south would not be brought about by “white elephant projects fuelled by dubious foreign investment”.
“It is difficult to envisage that AUM will ever provide the courses promised, let alone increase our economic growth by €85 million,” the statement read.
The government, the PD said, was constantly harping on about how it wanted to develop the south and narrow the gap with the north of the island: “How about doing something pragmatic and realistic?” it said.
The PD questioned whether both the AUM and the government were trying to find a way to justify the development of a campus at Żonqor when it appeared there was absolutely no need to.
In a separate statement, green NGO Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar said AUM’s application to extend its Cospicua campus would inevitably lead to a takeover of the cityscape.