ENGO Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar notes with dismay that the developers behind the American University in Bormla have applied for an extension of the AUM Campus above the ex-Police Station right in the heart of the dock community. This further request will inevitably lead to over-intensification of private use essentially resulting in a takeover of the cityscape.
More worryingly, the application for an extension to the 3 storey addition, comes at a time when the main building itself is still a construction site with media reports announcing the mass dismissal of its staff.
The total encroachment of this private development can not be accepted as a sensible urban planning solution. Neither can it be justified as necessary for educational ends when the need of the existing approved structure itself can barely stand, with the development already failing to uphold its contractual obligations by what should have been its first year as an active university.
FAA calls on the authorities to be vigilant and ensure that the heart and sole of this community is not sold-off and compromised for shortsighted speculative aims, set to overtake that which it should be regenerating.
