Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1057934
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2018 JAMES DEBONO THE authority responsible for the construction of Mal- tese schools is seeking a plan- ning permit to build a football ground and an underground car park for 212 cars in Naxx- ar. The Foundation for Tomor- row's Schools has picked an 8,830 square metre site within the precincts of the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary and MCAST complex. The foundation intends making the ground available for the wider Naxxar com- munity including its football club, which had previously expressed an interest in de- veloping a full-blown stadium and sports hotel in Gharghur. While the degraded land ear- marked for the sports facility is deemed to have no particu- lar environmental value, the Environment and Resources Authority has objected to an access road that would pass through undeveloped land outside building zones. An underpass is now being considered instead of a sur- face road. The new ground will face the villas along Triq Giorgio Locano in Iklin but the access will be through the school complex itself, which already includes two smaller football grounds and various other sports facilities. The FTS's own project de- scription referred directly to Naxxar Lions FC's lack of "ad- equate sporting facilities that cater for today's needs and expectations for a football club". But so far no formal agree- ments have been signed with any club or nursery. "Actual operational and lease arrange- ments with stakeholders, in- cluding the local community such as the football nursery, still need to be worked out," a spokesperson for FTS told MaltaToday. The construction of the football ground is considered by the FTS as an important aspect of its strategy for in- tegrating school facilities in the wider community, so that buildings and equipment are made available to the commu- nity during the evenings and in other non-teaching hours. "In this way greater use is made of these resources and the relationship between the educational authorities, schools, students and oth- er stakeholders are further strengthened," FTS said. The ERA has warned that building a surface road would "formalise the undeveloped peripheries and commit ad- ditional land" and questioned why the whole access road cannot be accommodated through the school grounds. The FTS is now revisiting its designs to include the con- struction of an underpass and avoid the take up of ODZ land. The application for the new football ground in the school premises dates back to Sep- tember 2017. Last year MaltaToday had revealed that two letters of intent for a Naxxar Lions stadium in Gharghur were issued right in the middle of the 2017 election campaign – one by the parliamentary secretariat for sports, and one by the Lands Authority. The project for a stadium for Naxxar Lions FC and a hotel, attracted the interest of Syri- an-Canadian investor Yahya Kirdi with a €10 million com- mercialisation project. But tangible progress on Kirdi's investment for Naxx- ar, having been installed as president of the club, has so far not materialised. Kirdi was in the past associ- ated with a bid for Liverpool, and later in 2017, reportedly fronting a bid to acquire the smaller club Carlisle United. In those negotiations he was represented by Nick McCre- ery, a north east-based agent and son of the former Carl- isle boss David McCreery – a friend of former Naxxar pres- ident and benefactor Michael Zammit Tabona. NEWS MATTHEW AQUILINA On the 23rd anniversary of your tragic and mysterious disappearance together with the other passengers of the Piper Lance 9H-ABU We miss you so much dearest Matthew, love Mama, Papa, Daniel & Adrienne, Gillian & Alfio, Emma, Sophie, Luisa, Anna, Nino, Mattia, Luca, Nanna, family and friends. Please remember Matthew in your thoughts and prayers. Schools' authority wants to build football ground for Naxxar Lions Syrian-Canadian investor Yahya Kirdi (inset) was reportedly interested in a stadium investment for Naxxar Lions, but the FTS now says its football ground would be used for the club