PN government will expedite University sports complex project, to be ready in first two years

PN candidate George Vital Zammit, who also wrote the party’s electoral manifesto, said on Wednesday morning that a PN government will hasten the project to develop a sports complex at the University of Malta within the PN’s first two years in government.

Last year, The Malta Independent reported that the University of Malta’s (UM) sports complex project – which is estimated to cost €10 million – will take seven years to complete from when works start, meaning that if works commence this year, the project should be ready in 2033.

When asked about this during Wednesday’s press conference, and specifically how the PN intends to expedite a seven-year project into just two years, Vital Zammit said that this project has faced administrative and financial hurdles that the party will look to overcome.

He said that “all our energy resources will go towards it” as “it has been missing for too long.”

Making this “educational and political commitment,” Vital Zammit stated that this long-awaited project is still on the backburner. He said that it was originally proposed 15 years ago, in 2011, through a PN masterplan.

He criticised that despite several commitments for this project to be done, the University of Malta remains “the only tertiary public institution” without a space for Maltese and foreign Erasmus students to go for a jog within campus grounds.

“We are committed to not let UM, regarding sporting facilities, remain in that state. Through focused project management, we will ensure that this project is finished as soon as possible,” Vital Zammit said.

In July last year, this newsroom had reported that this project will develop its football pitch and athletics track, adjacent to the National Swimming Pool complex and Maltese Olympic Committee’s offices, into an approximate 27,000 square metre area for new sporting facilities. Once completed, the University of Malta campus will feature a full-size astroturf football pitch, an eight-lane synthetic athletics track, a spectators stand, performing arts facilities, and a one-storey underground car park that will provide 1,000 parking spaces to students and academics, free of charge during office/lecturing hours.

This project featured in the Labour Party’s 2022 electoral manifesto as electoral pledge number 248. Works have still not yet started, though its permits have been granted.

The Nationalist Party’s proposed UM sports complex also features an underground car park underneath. No indications were made that the existing earmarked project is subject to change.

During this press conference, PN candidates George Vital Zammit and Justin Schembri outlined several of the party’s proposals that concern the education sector.

Schembri, who is also the Nationalist Party’s spokesperson for education, said that with a PN government under Alex Borg’s leadership, the PN “will invest as strongly as possible in education and in the development of children and youths, irrespective of where they come from or their financial situation.” He said that the PN is committed that education should serve “as an opportunity for youths to blossom in their own country.”

Vital Zammit outlined several infrastructural pledges related to the education sector, while Schembri listed more technical ones in the PN’s plans.

From proposals listed in the party’s manifesto, Vital Zammit mentioned a pledge to construct a specialised secondary school – as those that already exist for sports and performing arts – to recognise “the importance of having more children in science and eventually get jobs in this sector.”

He later clarified that the site for this “STEAM innovation campus” will be identified after the Nationalist Party is entrusted by the electorate to govern the country.

Among other pledges listed by Vital Zammit were for public schools to offer “the best” classrooms, staff rooms, and open spaces in the country; for schools to be well-maintained, even structurally; to cultivate trades; back “strong improvement” into the campuses at Junior College and Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary, and to finish the construction of the long-awaited medical school at the University of Malta.

On early education, Schembri said that childcare centres must be backed and improved so that they can become more educational environments, rather than social ones, and so that they are “of the highest level.”

He added that the PN wants to offer kindergarten educators with full training to offer them more structured careers, as well as eventually recognise them through certified warrants.

Schembri continued that the PN wants to modernise educational curriculum to modern times, calling current the curriculum “expired.” This will involve shaping syllabi to be less based on memory work and more in favour of “inquisition and creativity.”

Schembri said that student-based assessments (SBAs) will be retained but ameliorated through the re-opening of a public consultation. He said that presently, “many children” are being discriminated against with the way this system is being implemented.

He also listed initiatives to reduce early school-leavers; addressing “every anomaly” for LSEs not being recognised by government, including one system related to LSEs’ seniority that “was created by PL ministers”; providing Gozitan students with a grant of €400 to continue studying; and establishing an education authority, free of political influence, to safeguard national education standards.

Schembri also said that while many schools now feature a mix of young Maltese and foreign students, it is important for the Maltese language to be promoted among all students across the Maltese islands.

Aside from education, the Nationalist Party was questioned on how it responds to the Labour Party’s remarks that it cannot be considered credible in its pledges, given that the PN manifesto featured two conflicting renewable energy targets. Vital Zammit said that this error has been resolved and that the PN pledges for renewables to comprise 30% of Malta’s energy mix by 2030. He stated that the PN is observing “full transparency” in its proposals, that people can search through a dedicated AI-powered application.
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