Families in St Paul’s Bay and Qawra will have to wait for at least another year for the opening of a new State primary school, a much-needed facility that was originally planned to be up and running by last year.

Announced in 2015 by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, the project was meant to address the rapid rise in population in the area, which has exceeded 20,000.

A tract of land close to the Qawra church was chosen for the new school by the Foundation for Tomorrow Schools, a State agency responsible for large capital projects falling under the responsibility of the Education Ministry.

Spanning an area of 7,000 square metres, the new school will accommodate up to 500 students. Apart from 39 classrooms, the project comprises an underground car park for 400 vehicles, a gymnasium, a futsal pitch and two badminton courts. But construction work immediately stalled, to the point that at this time last year, the site was still abandoned and an FTS billboard saying the school would open by the end of 2017 had been removed.

While an agency spokesman attributed the delay to complications surrounding the tendering process, Education Ministry sources said the project had been dealt a blow by allegations of fraud and corruption within the foundation.

In the meantime, the situation at St Paul’s Bay primary school has reached saturation point, with a number of students having to be temporarily transferred to the Għargħur primary. Education Ministry sources expressed concern that there was no room to accommodate an intake of students, which could be necessary in the middle of the next academic year.

A visit to the site in Qawra a few days ago made it abundantly clear that project was still a long way from completion, even though work had resumed. At the time of writing, only the basement level was finished.

Asked for an update on the project, an FTS spokesman referred the Times of Malta to the agency’s website, according to which the new primary school would open its doors in September 2019. Questions on the reasons behind the delay remained unanswered.

Last January, the FTS applied to make a series of alterations to the existing plan, which was approved in October 2016. The changes affect the lifts, the childcare centre, sanitary facilities, fire escape stairs and orientation of sports facilities. No changes are planned in terms of the overall student capacity.

The application is still pending.

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