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24 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 14 NOVEMBER 2018 KURT SANSONE GOVERNMENT is looking at developing a car racing track of between two kilometres and 2.7km, Sports Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima has confirmed. The track would satisfy the minimum international require- ments to hold Formula 3 races, Grima said. He told MaltaToday that the track is expected to cover some 170,000sq.m. "The land being considered is all public land," Grima said when contacted. He insisted the track would have to satisfy the minimum standards set out by the FIA, the international governing body for motorsport. But the parliamentary secre- tary would neither confirm nor deny that the land being consid- ered for the project is in Ħal Far. "We are still studying the mat- ter and I do not feel it is pru- dent to indicate the area at this stage," Grima said. Sources have told MaltaToday that government was evaluat- ing the possibility of building the track on land just outside the Ħal Far industrial estate. The existing drag racing track, known as Kwart ta' Mil (a quar- ter of a mile) will not form part of the proposed track, contrary to plans voluntarily put forward last week by a firm of architects unconnected to either the gov- ernment or the Motorsport Fed- eration. It is not yet clear which side of the Ħal Far industrial estate is being considered but sources said various options were being considered depending on the design of the track. The construction of a car rac- ing track was an electoral pledge but initial plans to have the pro- ject located close to Ta' Qali were shelved. Another location in the limits of Siġġiewi and Qrendi was also discarded. The Nationalist Party has also pledged its support for a race track. In a radio programme last week, Tonio Cini from the Mo- torsport Federation said the or- ganisation was looking at a track that covered some 200,000sq.m., which is roughly equivalent in size to the outer quay at Malta Freeport. Race track will be between 2km and 2.7km long The area between Hal Far and the Malta Freeport has been identified by many as a possible site for the race track

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