Tag: American University

Categories
Environment Politics

Rape, Lies and a Jordanian Constructor’s University

rape_akkuza

Did I say gullible? More extraordinary news today as the Sadeen University (I’m not falling for the American crap) saga continues to unfold.  The story in the Times under the headline “University plan viable only with the use of ODZ land” is particularly intriguing (read the text of the story below). We are told that a government source has confirmed that the American University project is only viable if ODZ land is used because the land there is cheaper “and that is the price government is prepared to pay”. Government? Pay? Really?  Here’s just a few of our observations:

1. The mask has fallen quickly on this one. Much quicker than it ever did on the Citizenship Scheme and Henley and Partners. The words “American” and “University” failed to constitute sufficient snake oil to lubricate the painful reality of the truth: Public land that is not designated for development would be raped and the little private owners involved will make a killing thanks to Labour’s sale. Education has nothing to do with this. This is pure and simple speculation of the ugliest kind. Muscat is the construction industry’s messiah and it does not cost his pocket one thing. It’s the public and its land that will pay the price.

2. Investment? What investment? Since when does attracting foreign investment involve “the price government is prepared to pay”? Not only are we allowing foreign constructors to rape our nation’s limited surface resources but we are paying for it. Isn’t that brilliant? Taghna Lkoll my backside.

3. “The land will be given to the investors, Sadeen Group, through a concession on temporary emphyteusis authorised by a parliamentary resolution. It is not yet known how long the period will be. The contract for the land will stipulate that it can only be used for educational purposes.” Sweet. For an undefined period  we are giving away yet another chunk (90k square metres) of our land. The inclusion of a derisory clause limiting the use to educational purposes can only be seen in the light of the recent arse-minded decisions in the domain of planning including Michael Falzon’s “this is not an amnesty”. So much for a guarantee.

4. The university and american bit might be too complicated for mere mortals to be able to assess the extent of the travesty. Let’s imagine a parallel scenario. Muscat announces that the Sejfeddin Group is willing to invest a billion euros to build a leisure resort on Comino. Present at the launching are two senior managers from Disney World Paris who, it turns out, were paid a handsome fee by Sejfeddin Group to provide designs for the new resort based on their experience. Announcing the Disneyish Resort of Malta, Muscat informs the general public that an area amounting to three quarters of Comino including the Blue Lagoon and St. Mary’s Bay will be handed over to the Sejfeddin Group under temporary emphyteusis. There are no real alternatives to this since Comino was the only plan that would make the Disney Resort viable. All that is missing from this fictitious example is the sale of a few patches of land owned by persons linked to Labour. Spiffing isn’t it? Then we could truly say that this is a pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse.

from University plan viable only with use of ODZ land (The Times of Malta):

The new American university in the south has to be built on land in an outside development zone or the project will not be financially viable, a government source has confirmed. Any ODZ land being used for agriculture has a much lower value than land allocated for development, and that is the price government is prepared to pay. The land required is 90,000 square metres – the site identified is mostly public land, which also brings down the cost.

But 10,000 square metres of the total consists of seven areas of privately owned land, which lies at the centre. The owners include people renowned during the era of controversial former public works Labour minister Lorry Sant: Michael Axisa (il-Lay Lay), Piju Camilleri, Joe Chetcuti, Norman Clews, Joe Formosa, Joe Camilleri, Paul Abela and Manuel Farrugia.

The land will be given to the investors, Sadeen Group, through a concession on temporary emphyteusis authorised by a parliamentary resolution. It is not yet known how long the period will be. The contract for the land will stipulate that it can only be used for educational purposes. It is understood the government has made an offer to each landowner within the assigned area and is awaiting an answer from the individuals involved. The negotiations are not easy, but the government always has the option to expropriate land.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

American Lie

laba.ws_USA_Independence_Day

laba.ws_USA_Independence_Day

Gullible. That is the only word I can find that describes the citizens of this nation. The question really is whether the immediate entourage surrounding Prime Minister Muscat are also equally prone to swallow his tales hook, line and sinker or whether they are in on the scam. The sparkle in their eyes when they declaim the latest “achievement” of Optimist Malta seems to favour the former theory of a bunch of gullible politicians. There is no hope other than to patiently wait for the travails of time to work their magic and uncover the cobweb of deceit that is being spun as we speak.

What’s the latest problem? Well. As soon as I heard of the agreement to set up an “American” University in Malta I smelt a fish. The general public’s reaction was thrown off track by the question of siting since the area earmarked for this new institution of partaking of tertiary knowledge was in an ODZ. So the chickens got cacking about the horror of the siting without really asking the most pertinent question of all: What the flying copulation is an American University? The heirs of socialist Malta and “jew b’xejn jew xejn” (and no there is no great distance between this lot and that lot – after all wasn’t Varist signing the agreement?) were proudly parading an agreement for a private fee-paying University to be built by foreign speculators on land not previously earmarked for development (far from it) and slapped with the label of “American” to boot. Mintoff is not just turning in his grave, he is spinning faster than Kurt Farrugia ever managed in a lifetime.

Instead of losing our heads on the ODZ development issue – which is a major distraction that would somehow still turn out to be the answer to the why of all this – our first question should have been “What do you mean American?”. This is not some internationally acknowledged guarantee of educational quality. This is not Oxford, Cambridge, MIT or College of Europe opening a campus in Malta. It turns out, thanks to the work of Antoine Vella, that the much vaunted DePaul University only lent a guiding hand to the prospectors and will have nothing to do with the University. The prospectors turn out to be Middle Eastern blokes who are in the business of construction – so much for education eh… So in the end a Trojan Horse of a University is what we have. The important thing is that they will build and ruin more of the South and its coastline.

As I said, the American bit made me sit up and check what was going on. In my student days I had met a couple of students during exchanges abroad who would come from Middle Eastern and Maghreb Universities. They would invariably state that they came from an American University – whether it was Cairo, Lebanon, Tel Aviv, there was always an “American” label somewhere. There is nothing really American about these universities. The label serves to sell the image as a Western style uni by giving an added agreeable ring to it. You can find “American” Universities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and India. They tend to be reserved for higher paying classes of the local population – enclaves for figli di papà. We are not even sure whether the building contractors who will run the University that is to be built on virgin undeveloped land will be able to guarantee a proper quality of education.

Malta has already had its famous share of Made in America salesmanship. Nidal Binni has made a killing selling snail creams, Blue Pain Relief and all sorts of similar stuff (and has now ironically branched into Real Estate). For a very long time his catching marketing came under the title of “Made in America”. It’s the kind of quick marketing that appeals to a certain type of customer. Shall I say gullible?

I wish all the luck in the world to the hard working Nidal. It’s the snake oil merchants in government who cannot be trusted. Especially after this latest American Lie.