Church-owned land was abusively taken over by the government and excavated to build an access road to a new school in Marsascala, according to a judicial protest filed on Wednesday.

The Church also claimed that material dug up from the land in dispute was dumped in adjacent agricultural land, costing an estimated €25,000 to clear.

A police report has also been filed.

The new school, costing in the region of €5 million, was originally meant to be ready at the beginning of the previous scholastic year but a string of delays pushed the completion date backwards several times.

The project has been in the pipeline since 2015.

The illegal work was being done on government orders

The land mentioned by the Church is in an area known as Ta’ Gidwet ir-Riħ and covers an area of 8,800 square metres. More than 500 square metres were encroached upon and excavated to widen the original road that was three to four metres wide, the Church said.

The new road is now more than 10.5 metres wide, along a stretch of 65 metres.

According to a report commissioned by the Church, experts said the excavation material deposited near the access road had “seriously compromised” the soil that would incur a “massive expense” to remove and dispose of.

The judicial protest was filed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna’s delegate for the administration of Church property, Michelle Tabone, against the transport and education ministers, Transport Malta, the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools and Penza Construction Limited.

Dr Tabone said that, despite being warned to stop, works on the site continued. In the circumstances, the police were asked to investigate, she added, hoping that the investigation would not take long, especially since the illegal work was being done on government orders.

The Attorney General’s office was also notified of the judicial protest.

Lawyer Dominic Cassar signed the protest.